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WINTER JOURNEYS IN 
THE SOUTH 



By John Martin Hammond 

QUAINT AND HIS- 
TORIC FORTS OF 
NORTH AMERICA 

With seventy-one illustrations from original 
photographs. Large octavo. Handsomely 
bound in cloth. Gilt top. In a box. $5.00 net. 

THE LITERARY DIGEST.— "The range of 
Mr. Hammond's investigations and the indus- 
try he has shown in unearthing the buried 
romance of American history are striking 
features of the volume." 

COLONIAL MANSIONS 
OF MARYLAND 
AND DELAWARE 

With sixty-five illustrations from original 
photographs. Large octavo. Handsomely 
bound in cloth. Gilt top. In a box. A 
Limited Edition, printed from type which has 
been distributed. But a few copies remain. 
$6.00 net. 

THE OUTLOOK.— "A book of elegance in 
form, illustration, and subject." 



WINTER JOURNEYS 
IN THE SOUTH 



PEN AND CAMERA IMPRESSIONS OF MEN, MAN- 
NERS. WOMEN. AND THINGS ALL THE WAY FROM 
THE BLUE GULF AND NEW ORLEANS THROUGH FASH- 
IONABLE FLORIDA PALMS TO THE PINES OF VIRGINIA 



BY 

JOHN MARTIN HAMMOND 

AUTHOR OF "colonial, MANSIONS OF MARYLAND AND DELAWARE", "qTJAINT 
AND HISTORIC FORTS OF NORTH AMERICA". ETC. 



PHILADELPHIA & LONDON 
J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY 

1916 



.HZZ 



COPTRIGHT, I916, BY J. B. LtPPINCOTT COMPANY 



PUBLISHED OCTOBEB, I916 



I 




NOV 18*1916 



PRINTED BY J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY 

AT THE WASHINGTON SQUARE PRESS 

PHILADELPHIA, U. 8. A. 



;)Cl,A445i>88 



\0 
\ 

f: 

^ PREFACE 

THE material in the following pages has 
been collected through many years of 
acquaintance with the South, and through 
a special series of visits undertaken last winter with 
this work in mind. I have tried to give the things 
one notices and talks about to his friends. The 
book is not, primarily, a guide-book, or a hotel direc- 
tory, but it contains such information of this charac- 
ter as I have found of value to myself. 

J. M. H. 
• 

. Germantown, Pa. 
June, 1916. 



CONTENTS 



PAoa 

Palmy Palm Beach 11 

/ O Mi Am 1 31 

St. Augustine, The Fountain of Youth 51 

Ormond and Round About and the Beach 71 

Getting Into Florida 85 

Seeing Florida from a Time-table in Jax 93 

Swinging the Circle of the Gulf 101 

A Bit of the Old in New Orleans 109 

Where is What in Savannah 125 

^August Augusta 135 

That Well-known Aiken 147 

Long Squares and Long Years in Camden 155 

Charleston, a Quiet Present in a Noisy Past 165 

Finding One's Way in Summerville 173 

Pi NEHURST, Where Good Golfers Go 185 

Down the Lumbee in a Canoe 199 

ASHEVILLE IN A SaPPHIRE SkY 209 

The New Life of the Old White 219 

Hot Springs, the Rich Maiden Lady 233 

The Comfort of Old Point 243 



ILLUSTRATIONS 



PAGE 



The Court of the Alcazar Hotel, St. Augustine, 

Florida Frontispiece. ^ 

The Boat Slip at Palm Beach with Lake Worth 

Beyond 14*^ 

Glimpse of the Royal Poinciana Hotel 16 '^ 

The Royal Poinciana from the Garden \^^ 

In the Famous Garden of the Royal Poinciana ... 20 >^ 

A Fountain in the Poinciana Gardens 22 v 

Entrance to Whitehall, the Flagler House at Palm 

Beach 22 

Distant View of the Bathing, Palm Beach 24 

A Bit of the Golf Course 24 

Bathing at Palm Beach 26 

The Characteristic Palm Beach Chairs 26 

A Memory of Palm Beach 28 

Surf Bathing, Miami 36 

The Pool of the Royal Palm 36 

Mr. Wm. I. Matheson's Boat Anchorage 40 

Avenue of Royal Palms at Commodore Curtis 

James' Place 40 ^ 

A "Movie" Scene in Old Fort Marion 54 ' 

The "Baptistery," at the "Fountain of Youth". . 58 
The "Ponce" Fountain, a Gathering Place for 

Children 58 

Through the Doorway of the "Ponce" 62 

A Vista in the Alcazar Court 62^ 

Lobby of the "Ponce" at Night m"^ 

View over the Halifax River from Hotel Ormond . . 74 

The Golf Links Looking to the First Tee 76 

On the Beach at Ormond 78 

A Typical Halifax River View 78 

The Sixth Hole at Ormond 80 

An Old Friend of the House 80 y 

Cathedral Square, "Old" New Orleans 114/ 

9 



ILLUSTRATIONS 

A Typical Side Street in French New Orleans 118 

A Characteristic Savannah Home 130 

On a Side Street 130 

Typical Old Augusta Homestead 140 

The Augusta Country Club 140 

Home of Thomas Hitchcock, Aiken, S. C 150 

A Reminder of Camden 158 

Characteristic Camden Homestead 158 

The Garden of Court Inn 160 ^ 

The Famous Bowered Walk 160 ^ 

A Glimpse of St. Michael's Church 168 ^ 

The Battery, Charleston 170 

Spanish Moss and Live Oaks 176 ■ 

Some of the Ruins of "Old Dorchester" 178 

A Summerville Highway 178 

In the Garden of Middleton Barony 180 

Typical South Carolina Cabin, Near Summerville. 182 ' 

A Pinehurst Street 188 

One of the Private Residences 188 

Ninth Hole, Course No. 1, Showing the Character 

of the Country 194 

Watching the Ghymkhana 194 

Characteristic Scene on the Lumbee 202 

The Start at Blue's Bridge 202 

The Heart of Asheville 212 

One of the White Sulphur Pines 222 

The Greenbrier Pool 222 

Famous Spring House, "Old" White Sulphur 224 

Another Relic of the Past 224 

Paradise Row, the Bachelors' Quarters 228 

Virginia Row ^ 228 

View Across Hot Springs Links 236 

Entrance of the Homestead 240 

The Ball-room 240 

A Characteristic View at Old Point Comfort 248 

Some of the Fort Monroe Military 248 

10 



PALMY PALM BEACH 



WINTER JOURNEYS IN 
THE SOUTH 

PALMY PALM BEACH 

THERE had been much talk in Ormond 
about " the train." You would be on the 
porch of the golf club and would see a 
balloon of smoke on the horizon. " What is that? " 
would say Big Sister from Chicago. " Why, that 
must be ' the train ' " would say the Mother of Big 
Sister from Chicago. And so it would go. Every- 
body seemed to know about this train and every- 
body seemed to be interested in it. 

At last I was to see " the train." It came sneak- 
ing over the long bridge across the Halifax, rear 
end first, and settled with a sigh at the station of the 
hotel. Porters ran to the steps, tired-looking travel- 
lers came down those steps, a weary-looking con- 
ductor waved his arms languidly, energetic bell-boys 
grabbed hand baggage to run to the hotel with it. 
There was nothing remarkable about " the train " 
that I could see, nothing to justify so much talk 
about it, nothing remarkable whatever. However, 

13 



WINTER JOURNEYS 

one day at noon I boarded this train with the firm 
intention of going to Palm Beach. And thus I 
commenced another phase of my journeyings. 

To get on the main line of rails from which it 
digresses to reach Ormond " the train " does some 
little jockeying, but at length we got started fairly 
south, and jogged comfortably along through an 
uninteresting country, accompanied always by an 
impressive cloud of white dust. Always this dust 
billowed and eddied outside of the windows and 
could be seen in swirls through the aisles of the cars. 
When the car stopped it settled in a discouraging 
fashion upon the habiliments of the passengers. 
There are few stops between Ormond and Palm 
Beach, at least " the train " made few. Occasion- 
ally we would halt at a siding or a water tank and 
then the passengers would get out, penetrate the 
envelope of white dust and stand beside the track. 
At one point where we alighted there was the long- 
est stretch of straight track that I have seen any- 
where. On, on, on into the horizon it proceeded, 
apparently without curve, and it maintained per- 
fectly the laws of perspective. Then the train would 

start again. It had a peculiar way of starting, — 
14 



PALMY PALM BEACH 

this train; without warning whatever it would just 
quietly take up the burden of life once more and 
move. Other trains in other sections of the country- 
make a dramatic moment of the start. There is a 
clatter, a clanging of bells, a waving of arms and 
the cry of "All aboard! " With this train there was 
nothing of the sort. It just went, and unless you 
were watching it you were very apt to be left 
behind. 

We reached Fort Pierce about half past seven 
in the evening, and immediately upon the hearing 
of this name there was a brightening upon the part 
of the passengers, for they knew that Palm Beach 
was not far away. " Palm Beach ! " What a magic 
sound the name has ! And what a wonderful scrub- 
bing and dusting there was in the car with the por- 
ter as head priest of the movement. The porter 
dusted visibly. You could see each stroke of his 
brush on your clothing and a great cloud of white 
dust filled the air. However, he was through at last 
and we were all clean. 

One should not talk fl:ippantly about sacred 
things. Indeed, the magic of Palm Beach began to 
assert itself as soon as the train crept slowly out 

15 



WINTER JOURNEYS 

upon the bridge which connects the island with the 
mainland. The numerous lights of the great Poin- 
ciana Hotel were reflected in the water; balmy, 
soft, Southern airs came through the windows of the 
train ; there was a languorous, velvety feeling about 
the atmosphere. 

Palm Beach, as almost everyone knows, is 
situated on the southern extreme of the Flori- 
da east coast, and is a narrow island about fifteen 
miles long and about two miles broad at its 
broadest point. It is separated from the mainland 
on which is situated the little village of West 
Palm Beach by a long, narrow sound, errone- 
ously called " Lake Worth." On the eastern side 
it is bounded by the waters of the Atlantic 
ocean. The principal part of the island, speaking 
from the residential stand-point, is on the western 
side, or the lake front. Here stands the Royal 
Poinciana Hotel. Directly across the island on the 
ocean side is the Breakers, a hotel second in size 
only to the Poinciana. Adjacent to the Poinciana 
but farther north on the island are the Palm Beach 
Hotel and the Hibiscus, good houses both of them ; 

the visitor may choose from any of these. The 
16 




GLIMPSE OF THE ROYAL POINCIAXA HOTEL 



PALMY PALM BEACH 

greater part of the island belongs to the Florida 
East Coast Railway Company. Parts of it they 
have sold to real estate companies, and other parts 
belong to other enterprises, but it is no exaggera- 
tion to say that if the possessions of the East Coast 
Company were taken from the island the island as 
a social resort would cease to exist. 

This was my first visit to Palm Beach, and the 
moment when we approached the place was an in- 
teresting one for me. I had heard so much about 
it! Everyone had had something to say about it. 
And, indeed, like it or not, Palm Beach is a place to 
talk about. The impressions I had formed from the , 
speeches of my many acquaintances and friends 
were various : 

"Palm Beach," said a wrought-up golfing man 
from Cleveland, " it's a headache! " 

" It's a Coney Island done in silks and satins," 
said a woman of much social experience. 

Oh my Gawd!" was the fervent expression of 
a profane friend, with palms upstretched. 

" Bosoms, necklaces, pearls and diamonds," was 

another comment, somewhat laconic. 

Then there were the Sunday supplement pict- 
2 17 



WINTER JOURNEYS 

ures and the stories in the fancy (only fawncy!) 
magazines. Palm Beach has been advertised as has 
no other resort in America. So far away that only 
the very wealthy care to go to it, so high in price 
that only the very rich care to stay, most amazing 
tales can be and have been circulated about it. And 
surrounding each has been the shimmer of a haze 
of gold. 

Let me say right away that Palm Beach is no 
disappointment to anyone seeking the unusual. It 
contains a variety of sensations and an opulence of 
natural attractions that make it unique amongst 
American watering places. North or South. If you 
care for sea bathing in winter it is to be had here 
in a beautiful, opal-tinted sea on a dazzling white 
beach. If you care for exploration in a jungle I 
have seen no finer jungle anywhere than that one I 
saw at Palm Beach! If you wish to be pampered 
in luxury you can be pampered as well here as any- 
where I know. If you care for the panorama of life, 
to watch luxurious people in splendid attire, you can 
do so here. 

And everything in Palm Beach is done furioso, 
tempestuoso, appassionata, double forte, full organ 
18 




THE ROYAL POINCIAXA FROM THE GARDEX 



PALMY PALM BEACH 

with all of the stops out. It is no place for a tired 
business man, or a retired business man for that 
matter. Indeed, I do not associate anything mas- 
culine with Palm Beach at all. It is soft, feminine. 
It is a woman's idea of a paradise. 

To return, more particularly, to that immacu- 
late throng which we left in the Pullman car under 
the direction of the colored porter, — the train 
creaked in its slow, non-committal fashion into the 
station of the resort, and stopped with a sigh. There 
was a bustle and confusion, but none of the babel 
one usually associates with railroad stations. I 
alighted under the porte-cochere, or whatever one 
may call the railroad entrance of a hotel. One por- 
ter grabbed the suit case containing my faithful 
camera, another porter took the bag containing my 
clothing and both together pointed to the steps 
which led to the main floor of the hotel. I ascended 
these, crossed a small porch and found myself facing 
a long corridor, down which I commenced to walk. 

This was the longest corridor I had ever seen in 
my life, and I walked and walked. At last I began 
to get tired of this business ; nothing but velvet foot- 
falls, a sort of muffler padding as we tramped 

19 



WINTER JOURNEYS 

along. One quarter of a mile long is this corridor, 
the longest hotel corridor in existence. 

At last we passed some lighted shop windows, 
went by an inviting, open, dining-room door and 
came to the nerve center of the hotel. And there 
behind the desk were the young men who dis- 
pensed the nerve of the establishment. I registered, 
giving my full name and previous condition of ser- 
vitude, and was shown to a small room on the fifth 
floor. It took exactly ten minutes by my faithful 
watch, counting in stops for the elevator, to take on 
baggage, and to obey the traffic block signals, to go 
from the desk to my room. The room was small, 
without a bath, and was rated at six dollars a day, 
but it was clean and comfortable. The only thing I 
had against the room was its shape. Never have I 
seen a room of so unusual shape. The wall away 
from the one window formed a right angle with the 
floor; the wall in which the window was pierced 
formed a very acute angle with the floor and the 
other two walls had an angle which I have not been 
able to calculate. I could stand up comfortably 
against the wall away from the window, or I could 
stand up comfortably in the dormer of the window. 
20 



PALMY PALM BEACH 

In the other parts of the room I crept like a villain 
for my clothes, and when I washed I crouched as if 
I were doing a dark and hideous deed, like Lady 
Macbeth trying to get rid of the spots. 

Everything about the Poinciana must be cal- 
culated in terms of pure bulk. The house, when it 
is full to capacity, and it very frequently is filled, can 
accommodate fifteen hundred guests, and this figure 
does not include the number of the employees of 
the establishment. 

The dining-room is made in two parts with a 
connection in the middle like the letter " H " and 
is big enough to house a regiment of soldiers. The 
menu here is of the same high quality and wide 
variety as in the other houses of the Florida East 
Coast Railway group. But the service is slow, no 
matter how good the waiter, as might be expected 
from the physical difficulties he has to contend with 
in so huge an establishment. Actually a dish may 
get cold in being brought from the kitchen to the 
table. 

The popular dining hour at Palm Beach is 7.30 
or 8 o'clock and the main aisle of either of the two 
dining-rooms is a resplendent vision at this time. 

21 



WINTER JOURNEYS 

The most gorgeous clothes and the most luxurious 
women in the country can be seen here, and the lat- 
est styles. This year the women seemed to run to 
bulk and the clothing to minuteness. Some other 
year the proportions may be reversed. There were 
big pearls, big diamonds and big jewelry of all 
kinds and assortments. One could not escape the 
sight of them. 

Let me draw a picture of one characteristic 
diner at Palm Beach: Large, imposing she was, 
built by Titan upon Minerva's order. When we first 
saw her coming do^Ti the aisle she seemed to be car- 
rying a bone in her teeth, to use the nautical phrase. 
She was striped in black below the water-line and 
was very neatly turned out above. When she sat at 
a table near me I learned from her accent that she 
was from the Middle West and when she came 
down the aisle she looked like a great vessel with a 
fair wind behind her. She was a ship of the Ameri- 
can desert. Somewhere or other in her atmosphere 
there was carried along a husband like a fly outside 
a railway train window. 

Time passes very quickly at Palm Beach, and it 

soon becomes the hour at which dinner is finished 
22 




A FOUXTAIX IN THE POINTIAXA GAUDEXS 




ENTHANCE TO WHITEHALL, THE FLAGLER HOUSE AT PALM BEAt H 



PALMY PALM BEACH 

and the daily promenade begins in the long passage- 
way outside of the dining-room and through the 
rotunda of the hotel. Imagine three or four hun- 
dred women gathered together and each one de- 
termined to slay the others with a pang of envy 
through the heart at the beauty of her attire! If 
one cares to sit by and watch this parade he may 
find many comfortable chairs scattered along the 
course. 

As the evening wears on it becomes time for the 
dancing. This is done in a room down stairs in 
the " cafe," as it is called, chiefly peopled by the 
young of the female of the species. A negro banjo 
quartet provides the music, and very excellent music 
it is, too, done with that sense of primitive rhythm 
which distinguishes the black race. Here the 
young girls of the hotel are seen, and how beautiful 
these young girls are ! Truly there is nothing finer 
than the young American girl. Slim as a rapier and 
quick as a flame! Dancing continues from nine to 
twelve o'clock and then everything is rigorously 
closed down. 

It may be said here parenthetically that the per- 
centage of real drinking at Palm Beach is very, 

23 



WINTER JOURNEYS 

very small. To begin with, on account of the laws 
of the state of Florida it is impossible to get any- 
thing spirituous to drink after six o'clock in the 
evening unless one has laid in a special private stock 
of his or her own. And the laws of the state, accord- 
to my observation, are very strictly enforced by the 
hotel. More than that, the air is too soft, too warm, 
to invite much indulgence in alcohol. It would be 
like drinking a cup of hot tea while sitting in a tub 
of hot water. 

Bed time comes at the Poinciana neither ear- 
lier nor later than at other places. Very often the 
management of the hotel provides an entertainment 
in the main ball room or assembly room and this 
fills in the hour between nine and ten o'clock in the 
evening. 

One of the amusing sights to be seen at almost 
any minute during the evening is that of the many 
reporters for New York newspapers and the fash- 
ion publications buzzing about the lobby or the cor- 
ridors of the hotel interviewing guests, gathering 
names, and it is marvellous to observe the pertur- 
bation of some mother of a young miss as a repre- 
sentative of the mighty press bears down upon her. 
24 



DISTANT VIEW OF THE BATHING, PALM BEACH 



iJr^.ife>.J|/,j^ A ^ 




A BIT UF THE t;uLF COUKSE 



PALMY PALM BEACH 

" This is Mrs. Blank of Milwaukee? " " Yes, this 
is Mrs. Blank." " And Miss Blank is with you? " 
" Yes, Miss Blank is with me." "How long do you 
expect to stay? " " Oh, we'll be here the entire sea- 
son, — " while the probabilities are no doubt that 
they will move on at the end of the week. And so 
it goes. No doubt there is much legitimate news to 
be gathered at Palm Beach. There must be. I 
should estimate the proportion of correspondents 
to guests as one correspondent to every twenty-five 
guests of the hotel. 

The nights are cool at this great American 
watering place, and, if your room is properly 
screened, untroubled by mosquitoes. If your win- 
dows are not so screened you will dream all night 
that Zeppelins are attacking your township. 

Morning brings bright outdoors to Palm Beach 
almost every day, for rainy weather is not often 
known here. One ventures to sally forth, and is 
guided in his wanderings by a very useful publica- 
tion put out by the hotel management, known as 
the Palm Beach Daily Program. What are some 
of the things that one may do during the day? 
Boating, bathing, fishing, walking, golfing, shop- 

25 



WINTER JOURNEYS 

ping, riding in the chairs. Riding in the bicycle 
chairs! Ah, there is something to do! Who does 
not remember the bicycle chairs at Palm Beach? 
One sits in a sort of a magnified baby carriage with 
a bicycle seat behind. A burly darkey occupies 
this seat and pedals vigorously. We rush violently 
through space, we round corners on two wheels. 
The small bicycle bells tinkle intermittently like fire- 
flies of noise. It is an exciting thing to do. 

Out of doors one gains a new idea of the bulk 
of the Royal Poinciana Hotel. It is conceived 
generally in the Georgian style of architecture and 
is a perfect barracks of a place, constructed of 
frame and clapboards. Not at all an unattractive 
building from the architect's standpoint, it is truly 
a monmnent to the bigness of grasp and enterprise 
of the founder of the whole chain of hotels on the 
east coast of Florida. Adjoining the Poinciana 
are the famous Palm Beach gardens, which contain 
many varieties of rare shrubs which can not be 
grown in Northern latitudes. 

Connecting the Poinciana Hotel and the Break- 
ers is a long straight avenue about one mile in 

length, down which run a track for wheel chairs, a 
26 






V 







BATHING AT PALM BEACH 




THE C'HARAt'TERISTIC PALM BEACH CHAIRS 



PALMY PALM BEACH 

path for pedestrians and a track for a little trolley 
car which plies back and forth between the two 
hotels. This highway, the main artery of Palm 
Beach, is bordered by great trees — Australian pines 
and palm trees — which have grown to magnificent 
proportions and form a very beautiful and memo- 
rable sight. 

The bathing hour commences about eleven 
o'clock and extends to about one o'clock, and the 
beach is adjacent to the Breakers Hotel. A very 
beautiful beach it is, not extraordinarily broad, but 
formed of very white and glistening sand. Indeed 
the glare here from the tropic sun and this white 
sand is very trying at first. A Palm Beach institu- 
tion is the line of chairs which extends along the 
beach. These are nothing more or less than com- 
fortable camp chairs with canopies and can be 
rented at the rate of ten cents an hour so that one 
may sit comfortably and watch the bathers at his 
ease. One of the favorite amusements at the bath- 
ing beach at Palm Beach this year was the use of 
" Zeppelins," in other words air-filled rubber mat- 
tresses which were thrown out upon the waves and 
then used as a means of diversion. Six or seven 

27 



WINTER JOURNEYS 

people would stretch out in the water upon these 
" Zeppelins " and would have a hilarious time try- 
ing to retain their position despite the urgency of 
the waves. Aside from this I could find nothing 
worthy of remark in the bathing. The costumes 
were not nearly so daring as one might see at some 
of the Northern coast resorts during the summer; 
the suits were in better taste, the colors brighter and 
more fitly chosen. The whole scene was a very 
gay one with the white sands, and the watching 
people, and the parasols, and the parti-colored bath 
caps, and the active reporters jumping about like 
fleas, taking snap-shots every other second of men 
and women on the beach. 

One of the prettiest walks at Palm Beach is 
along Lake Worth front. One may either go south 
past Whitehall, the late Mr. Flagler's home, or he 
may go north past the famous Bradley's, and some 
of the other hotels of the resort. If he go south he 
will come to the newer part of Palm Beach, to a sec- 
tion that has lately been given over to real estate 
operations. Here lies the "Jungle" once so fa- 
mous in Palm Beach annals. There is still much of 

the " Jungle " left but the greater part of it has 
28 




A MKMOKY OK PALM BEACH 



PALMY PALM BEACH 

been cut up and " improved " and made into build- 
ing sites. 

The walk to the north along Lake Worth is the 
older and more popular walk at Palm Beach. Here 
are the shops and the tea-houses, and here is Brad- 
ley's, which may be given a more extended mention. 
The exterior of Bradley's, and the interior, for that 
matter, are as quiet as a country church. The 
atmosphere of the place is more that of a well- 
appointed, well-conducted home than anything else. 
Large sums of money are, no doubt, won and lost 
in this establishment, but I doubt if it altogether 
deserves quite the hectic reputation that has been 
ascribed it. Annually stories come out of huge 
sums of money lost or won at this place ; but spread 
over the whole period of its existence these sums 
would not be so very large. Anyhow the question 
is not economically an important one. The money 
is lost usually by those whom it has cost nothing to 
obtain, and is merely removed from one idle channel 
of humanity to another. Let us continue to stroll 
farther on up the coast. 

It was my good fortune to take this walk late 

one evening. Night was coming on, bringing that 

29 



WINTER JOURNEYS 

soft, slumbrous, tropic twilight. The vivid colors 
of a gorgeous golden sunset were reflected in the 
still waters of Lake Worth. To my right was the 
heavy green foliage of the palm trees, and in their 
shadows glimmered the white fronts of houses. 
Wheel chairs rustled swiftly by, tinkling as they 
went. The path seemed not to be sohd, but seemed 
some airy walk shinmiering in the half light, and 
leading on into a region of enchantment. Truly it 
was fairyland! One may well understand the con- 
tinued charm of Palm Beach. 



O MI AM I 



O MI AM I 

TO begin with, one must learn how to pro- 
nounce the name. " Miami." The aver- 
age Northerner when he sees it calls the 
word " Mee-Am-y," with the accent on the second 
syllable. Some of them vary this proceeding by 
calling it " My-Ammy." Many good people in 
Miami themselves pronounce the word " Mi-Am-I," 
equally stressed all through, as I have it at the head 
of this chapter. No doubt the proper pronuncia- 
tion, however, since the name is of Spanish origin, 
is " Mee-Awm-Ee," making the second syllable 
longer than the first and third, and these two about 
equal in accent. 

Miami, then, lies on Bay Biscayne. That is a 
pleasant proximity of words, is it not? Miami on 
Bay Biscayne. Truly it is musical ! Bay Biscayne, 
be it known, is a very beautiful and magnificent 
body of water at the extreme end of the Florida 
peninsula. It is separated from the ocean by a 
barrier of sand, and is nowhere narrower than two 

miles across. It contains all of the tints of blue 
3 33 



WINTER JOURNEYS 

characteristic of these Southern waters, and the 
islands within it are green. 

Where the Royal Palm Hotel is situated, 
overlooking Bay Biscayne, is five miles of water 
whose pleasant expanse is diversified by many of 
these islands. Some of the islands raise up toward 
the impending skies ridiculous, scrubby-looking 
palm trees. The whole scene is most exotic and trop- 
ical. It is indeed wonderful that one may leave 
New York in a snow storm blizzard one evening, 
\ and wake up in this tropical paradise thirty-six 
j hours later. 

Bay Biscayne is noted for its fine fishing. This 
makes this place a Mecca for fishermen. It gives 
safe harborage, and numberless white yachts are 
in its waters every winter. Until very recently the 
steamers for Nassau in the Bahamas sailed from 
Miami. But the filling up of the channel to the sea 
made a continuance of this schedule undesirable, and 
now for a time, at least, the boats will leave from a 
point a few miles south of Jacksonville. 

Just at the border of the garden of the Royal 

Palm Hotel the Miami river empties into Bay 

Biscayne. This stream meanders through the 

whole town, and is lined with picturesque quays and 

34 



MIAMI 

wharves, alongside which white yachts and little 
sailing boats are moored. In the early morning, 
with the sun's rays slanting across the lines of the 
wharves, and the mist just rising from the river, 
this is a very beautiful scene. 

On the quays some interesting itinerant show- 
men have set up small five and ten-cent shows. 
These shows are all of the pre-movie period of 
art, almost even of the pre-historic period, as the 
following copy I made of a sign will testify, which 
announced : 

" A Grate See Cow " 

" A Great See Cow insid 15 feet long, 4 ft. 
wise. Is a site to see it turning over and over It 
turn on its bac to eet. Come and see it eet the 
Mother and baby too. Dont pass the door Come 
and see a Grate See Cow The large cow is in the 
world Come in Come I is a Cow Baby One Ten 
Cents to see a See Cow " 

The Royal Palm Hotel is the Florida East 
Coast Company's house here, and is without doubt 
the best hostelry in the little city. There are other 
hotels, however, and many boarding-houses and at 
almost any of them acceptable lodging and food 

35 



WINTER JOURNEYS 

can be secured. The Royal Palm is a commodious 
establishment of frame construction. It is sur- 
rounded by wide verandas, and in the gardens at 
the rear of the house, that is in the notch of the 
junction of the Miami river and Bay Biscayne, are 
many rare plants, shrubs, and trees. Here, and 
here alone, is the Royal palm seen to its best advan- 
tage on the east coast of Florida, for only in this end 
of the state is found the proper combination of 
climatic and soil conditions to bring this tree to its 
most majestic proportions. Even Palm Beach is 
too far north to mature the Royal palm very 

[ successfully. 

Though so far south the climate of Miami is 
more acceptable than the climate of many other 
points in Florida. Owing to its situation on a 
limestone soil, in contradistinction to the situation 
of most of the other Florida points, which are on 

i marshy ground, the place lacks that humidity which 
often makes many other places in Florida most un- 
comfortable in warm weather. If by any chance 
I should spend the summer in Florida, I believe that 
I would be more inclined to take up my abode in 
Miami than anywhere else in the state. The days 
36 



i 




StTRF BATHING, MIAMI 





IMftfljiiiil 




-^*"^^^^*»f 



3; 



THE POOL Oh I UK KoYAL PALM 



MIAMI 

are almost uniformly clear and rain comes in Janu- 
ary and February, when one is prepared for it. 

One of the essential characteristics of Miami is 
that it combines the attractions of a small metropo- 
lis with those of a first-class winter resort. The city 
has more of the atmosphere of Atlanta than any 
other Southern city that I know. Its permanent 
residents are boosters, enthusiasts in their locale. 
No sooner are you within their midst than they tell 
you what a wonderful place Miami is, and back up 
their statements with an imposing array of facts. 
They have a Chamber of Commerce, and all the 
other accessories of modem get-up-and-get in 
Ajnerican cities. So have other places in Florida, 
but it is the friendly, wide-awake spirit of the people 
of Miami that immediately strikes the visitor. 

It is impossible to visit Miami and not absorb 
some of the facts which are constantly hurled at one 
by enthusiastic Miamists. So I shall repeat some 
of these facts: 

Miami is the county seat of Dade county, 366 
miles south of Jacksonville, 156 miles northeast of 
Key West. It is only nineteen years old and it has 
a population of 20,000. It has twelve public 

37 



WINTER JOURNEYS 

schools. It has eighteen miles of sewerage. It has 
electric light, two daily and two weekly newspapers. 
It has the largest Marconi wireless station in the 
South. It has six banks. It has fourteen churches 
(which is a pretty proper proportion) and it has 
four ice factories (there being no surface connec- 
tion between the last fact and the one preceding). 
It is the center of a great winter vegetable-growing 
section. It has direct cable service to Havana. It 
has three theaters, four high-class picture shows, 
two conservatories of music, a city hall, fire sta- 
tions, and a first class paid fire department. It is 
the fifth largest city in Florida, and its post-ofiice 
is the third in importance. 

The Royal Palm Hotel is rather more of a 
sportsman's hotel than others of the Florida East 
Coast Company group. Immediately one enters 
the door one is conscious of this healthy, out-of-door 
atmosphere. There are fishing trophies on the wall. 
A large sporting goods store has an office in the 
lobby of the hotel. Occasionally when some guest 
makes an especially good catch of fish, this catch is 
displayed by the hotel management in the most 
prominent place in the lobby in large wicker bas- 
38 



MIAMI 

kets, with a sign above it proclaiming the variety of 
the fish and the name of the captor. 
/ The dining-room of the hotel is exceptionally 
\ good in service and quality of food. The table is 
I made distinctive by the large assortment of sea 
I. food that is offered. 

Adjoining the hotel is the Royal Palm casino, 
which contains a large swimming-pool. It is in this 
pool that most of the visitors to the house prefer 
to take their dip. Sea bathing is to be had at Miami 
but one must go across the bay to the ocean shore 
to secure it. The hotel runs a special bus to the 
beach on the ocean front, but the trip is rather long 
and tiring. During the bathing hour in the casino 
the pool is a very gay sight. Very recently the 
Florida East Coast Company has begun introduc- 
ing a one-piece bathing suit for men and women 
alike in all of its establishments. This adds much 
interest to the scene at the casino. 

Golf may be played by guests of the Royal 
Palm Hotel at the Royal Palm Golf Club, which 
is some little distance from the house, but to which 
adequate motor service is maintained. Tennis may 
be secured at the Miami Tennis Club. 

39 



WINTER JOURNEYS 

One of the features of Miami that is most attrac- 
tive to visitors is the large number of drives and 
motor trips that one may take in the immediate 
vicinity of the city. It is very easy to make a good 
road in Dade county, or at least in this part of 
Dade county. One merely digs below the surface 
of the ground into the limestone soil and cuts out 
this limestone in chunks. Then he turns the lime- 
stone over, mashes it to the ground, runs a roller 
over it two or three times, and lets the atmosphere 
do its work of drying out the stone. Very soon he 
has an almost perfect roadway, — hard, smooth, and 
durable. A coating of oil is given to this to help 
preserve the whole. So there are more than three 
hundred and fifty miles of good roads around 
Miami, and all maintained and made at a small cost 
to the community. The country is flat, but one 
drives through pleasant orchards of citrus trees, 
beautiful with their crooked branches whether bear- 
ing fruit, whether in blossom, or whether merely 
holding up a mass of green leaves. 

Along the shores of Bay Biscayne in the imme- 
diate vicinity of Miami, wealthy outlanders have 
built winter homes of such luxurious aspect as to 
40 




MK. WM. J. MATHESO.N'S BOAT ANCHORAGE 




AVEXUE OF ROYAL PAr,MS AT COMMODOKE CURTIS JAMES' PLACE 



MIAMI 

make this section a perfect colony of palaces, if one 
may use so clumsy a conjunction of words. Among 
the very beautiful places on the bay front are those 
of James Deering, William J. Matheson, and Com- 
modore Curtis James of the New York Yacht Club. 
A visit to any of these places gives one a larger 
ideal of luxury in a semi-tropical countiy. Mr. 
Matheson I believe it was who was the pioneer in 
fine residence building in this section. If so he 
showed wise forethought and builded well, for it 
is doubtful if there is a more attractive winter resi- 
dence location in the United States than this. 

An authoritative list of the rare trees, plants, 
shrubs and vines in the Royal Palm garden may be 
of interest to some who may be thinking of visiting 
the place because of its riches of tropical growth, 
and is here reproduced: 

Abroma. Flowering Shrub. 
Acacia (famesiana). Oppopanox. 
Acacia (sp.). Cow's Horn Tree. 
AcALYPHA. Six varieties. 
Achras (sapota). The Sapodilla. 
Adenanthera (pavonlna). Circassian Bean. 
W Agave (americana). Century Plant. 

41 



WINTER JOURNEYS 

Albizzia (lebbek). Woman's Tongue Tree. 

lA-LEURiTES (moluccana). Candle Nut Tree. 

Allemanda (hendersoni). Vine. 

Allamanda (nerifolia). Shrub. 

Alocasia (two varieties). Elephant Ear. 

Alpinia (nutans). Shell Flower. 

Alteenantheba (two varieties, red and yellow). 

Anona (muricata). Sour Sop. 

Antigonon (leptopus). Mountain Rose of Mexico. 

Aealia (three varieties). 

Aeaucaria (excelsa). Norfolk Island Pine. 

Ardisia (pickeringii). Shrub with black berries. 

Aeeca (lutesceno). Small Palm. 

AsPAEAGUs (four varieties). 

Aspidistra (lurida). 

Bambusa (two varieties). Bamboo. 

Bauhinia (four varieties). 

Begonia (ricini folia). 
V Beaucarnia. Guatemala Lilly. 

BiGNONiA (capensis). 

BiXA (orellana). 
s/BoMBAX (ceiba). Silk Cotton Tree, 
v^ BouGAiNViLLEA (glabra sanderiana). Paper Flower. 

BoEHMERiA (wura). Fiber Plant. 

Bryophyllum (calycinum). Life in Leaf Plant. Leaves 
pinned to a wall will throw out sprouts without 
watering. 
42 



MIAMI 

BuRSEEA (simaruba). Gumbolimbo native tree. 
Canella (winteriana). Wild Cinnamon. 
CocoTHRiNAX (garberii). Native Fan Leaf Palm. 
CocoTHRiNAX (jucunda). Native Fan Leaf Palm. 
Crotalaria (candicans). Yellow Flowered Shrub. 
CoNOCARPUS (erectus). Button Wood Native Tree. 
U'Cereus (grandiflorus). Night Blooming Cactus. 
Cereus (triangularis). Night Blooming Cactus. 
Caesalpinia (pulcherima). Dwarf Poinciana. 

( Flowering trees from the Philip- 

Caesalpinia (sappan). ) . ta • x>j. Ui. • j 

.1 pines. Dye is oiten obtained 

Caesalpinia (sepiaria). \ „ ,, , 

^ ^ virom the wood. 

Caladium. Fancy Leaf. 

Calpurnea (aurea). 

i/Cananga (odorata). Ylang Ylang, from the Philippines. 

A famous perfume is made from the flowers. 

COLUTEA. 

Carissa (arduina). African Plum. 
V Carica (papaya). Papaw or Melon Fruit. 
Carludovica. Panama Hat Plant. 
Caryota (urens). Fish Tail Palm. 
Caryota (mitis). Fish Tail Palm. 
Cassia (alata). Flowering Shrub from Porto Rico. 
Cassia (florida). Flowering Shrub from Philippines. 
Cassia (fistula). Pudding Pipe Tree from India. 
Casuarina (equisetifolia). Australian Pine or Beef wood. 
Catesbaea (spinosa). 

43 



WINTER JOURNEYS 

Cecropia (palmata). Ornamental tree with edible fruit. 
Cecropia (reltata). Ornamental tree with edible fruit. 
Cestrum (diumum). Day blooming Jessamine. 
Cestrum (noctunium). Night blooming Jessamine. 
Carob. St. John's Bread Tree. 
Chamaedorea (latifolia). Palm. 
Citrus (sinensis). The Orange. 
yj Clusia. Balsam Tree. 

Clerodendron (three varieties). 

CoccoLOBis (lauriflora). Native Pigeon Plum Tree. 
CoccoLOBis (uvifera). Native Sea Grape Tree. 
CoccoLOBis (pubescens). Tree with very large leaves. 
Cocos (nucifera). The Cocoanut Palm. 
Cocos (flexuosus). Palm. 

CoDiEUM. Croton (about twenty-five varieties). 
CoRDiA (nitida). Ornamental Flowering Trees. 
CoRDiA (sebestena). 
Clitoria. Blue Pea Vine. 

CoLOTROPSis (procera). Shrub from Nassau. 
Colocasia (esculenta). Dasheen, edible tubers. 
Cycas (revoluta). Sago Palm. 
Cycas (circinalis). Sago Palm. 
Cymbopogon (citratus). Lemon Grass. 
Cyperus (papyrus). Moses Bulrush. 
Datura. 

Delonix (regia). Royal Poinciana. 
DiCTYosPERMA (rubra). Palm. 
44 



MIAMI 

DiEFFENBACHIA. 

DoMBEYA (wallichii). Shrub with ball-like flowers. 
Dracaena (fragrans). 

Dracaena (indivisa). Dragons Blood Tree. 
Dalbergia (sisso). Valuable lumber tree from India. 
DuRANTA (plumiera). Yellow berry plant. 
DiMocARPus (longan). Fruit Tree. 
Epidendrum (tampense). Butterfly Orchid. 
Epiphyllum (truncatum). Crab-claw Cactus. 
Eranthemum (pulchellum). Shrub with blue flowers. 
Erythroxylon (coca). Cocaine Plant. 
Eucalyptus. 
Eucharis. Amazon Lily. 
Eugenia (jambos). Rose Apple. 
Eugenia (micheli). Surinam Cherry. 
Euphorbia (splendens). Crown of Thorns. 
Euphorbia (pulcherrima). Poinsettia. 
Euphorbia (havanensis). Cactus-like tree. 
Eriobotrya (japonica). Loquat or Japan Plum. 
Ficus (twelve varieties). Rubber Tree. 
Galphimia (americana). Marmalade Box. 
Gliricidia (maculata). Tree with pink flowers. 
Grevillia (robusta). Australian Silk Oak. 
GuiLANDiNA (conduc). Nicker Bean. 
Hameliia (patens). Shrub with red flowers. 
Hibiscus (twelve varieties). 
Haepephyllum (caiFrum). African Plum. 

45 



WINTER JOURNEYS 

Hedychium. Ginger Lily. 

HuRA (crepitans). Sand Box Tree. 

Hyopiiorbe (verschaffeltii). Palm. 
v/Ilex (dahoon). Southern Holly. 
W^'Jacandara (mimosafolia). Tree with blue flowers. 

Jacobinia (coccinea). Shrub with scarlet flowers, 
vy Jasminum (four varieties). Jessamine. 

Jatropha (curcas). Physic Nut. 

Kentia. Palm. 

Kigelia. Sausage Tree. 

Lantana. Flowering Shrub. 

Lantania (borbonica). Fan Palm. 

Lantania (glaucophylla). Fan Palm. 

Laonotis (leonurus). Lion's Tail Plant. 

Magnolia ( grandiflora) . 

Malpigia (glabra). Barbadoes Cherry. 

Mammea (americana). Mammee Apple. 

Mangifera (indica). Mango. 

Martinezia (caryotaefolia). Palm. 

Melicoccus (bijuga). Spanish Lime. 

MoNSTERA (deliciosa). A climbing aeroid from Trinidad. 
Fruit resembles an ear of maize. Flavor like pine- 
apple and banana. 

Moringa (oliefera). Horseradish Tree. 

MusA. Banana. 

Nerium. Oleander. 
46 



MIAMI 

\/Nymphaea. Water Lily. 

Opuntia. Prickly Pear. 

Oroxylum (flavum). Flowering Tree. 

Oroxylum (indicum). Flowering Tree. 

Panax. Small foliage plant, 
t^ Pancratium (carribaeum). Spider Lily. 

Pandanus (baptisti). Screw Pine. 

Pandanus (utilis). Screw Pine. 

Pandanus (veitchii). Screw Pine. 

Paritium (tiliaceum). Cuban Bast. 

Parkia (timoriana). Ornamental Tree from Philippines. 

Parkinsonia (aculeata). Small Tree with yellow flowers. 

Persea (americana). Avacado Pear. 

Persea (borbonia). Native Bay Tree. 

Petraea (volubilis). The Queen Wreath. 

Pedilanthus (tithymaloides). Red Bird Cactus. 

Phoenix (three varieties). Date Palm. 

Phyllanthus (distichus). Otaheite Gooseberry. 

Phyllanthus (roseo-pictus). Snow Bush. 

Phyllanthus (purpurens). Purple leaf variety. 

PiNANGA (lepida). Palm. 

PiAROPus (crassipes). Water Hyacinth. 

PiTHECOLOBiuM (dulce). Shade Tree. 

PiTTOsPORUM (tobira variegata). 

Plumbago (capensis). 

Plumiera (alba). Frangipani. 

Prosopis (juliflora). Mesquit Bean. 

47 



WINTER JOURNEYS 

Pritchaudia (pacifica). Fan Leaf Palm. 
Pseudo-Phoenix (sargentii). Native Palm. 
PsiDiUM. The Guava. 
PuNiCA (granatum). Pomegranate. 
Ravenala (madagascariensis). Traveller's Tree. 
Roses. 

RiciNus. Castor Oil Plant. 
RoYSTONEA (regia). Royal Palm. 
Russelia (juncia). Fountain Plant. 
Sabal, (palmetto). Cabbage Palm. 

Sanchezia (nobilis). Flowering Plant from Ecuador. 
Samseviera (guineensis). African Bow-string Hemp. 
Sapindus. Soap Berry Tree. 
Selaginilla (willdenovi). Rainbow Moss. 
SiDEROXYLON (mastic). Native Tree. 
ScHiNus (molle). Pepper Tree 
ScHiNUs (terebinthifolius). Pepper Tree. 
SciADOPHYLLUM (pulcinim). Foliage Tree. 
SoLANDRA (guttata). Chalice Vine. 
SoLANDUM ( seaf orthianum) . Vine with blue flowers. 
Spondias (dulcis). Otaheite Golden Apples. 
Spondias (lutea). Hog Plum. 
Spathodea. Flowering Shrub. 
Sterculia (foetida). Flowering Tree. 
SwiETENiA, ]\Iahogany Tree. 
Tamarix. Ornamental Shrub. 
Tamarindus. Tamarind Tree. 
48 



MIAMI 

Talinum (patens). Bedding Plant with white foliage. 

Tabernaemontana. Crape Jessamine. 

Tecoma (stans). Yellow Elder. 

Terminalia (catuppa). Tropical Almond. 

Terminalia (edulis). Tree with red fruit. 

Thevetia (nerifolia). Lucky Bean. 

Thunbergia (erecta). Shrub with blue flowers. 

Thunbergia. Vine, white and yellow. 

Thespesia (populnea). Native flowering tree. 

Thrinax (three varieties). Native thatch palm. 

Thuya. Arborvitae. 

TiLLANDSiA. Air Plant. 

Toxicophlaea (spectablis). Shrub from Cape of Good 

Hope. Bark poisonous. 
Tradescantia (discolor). Bedding Plant. 
Triphasia (trifoliata). Bergamot or Lime Berry. 
Washingtonia (robusta). Palm. 
Zebrina (pendula). Wandering Jew Plant. 

One of the great social events of the Florida 
east coast is the Valentine ball at the Royal Palm 
Hotel. This is a very gay and very picturesque 
festivity. Not only guests of the house but towns- 
folk, as well, take part therein. The participants 
gather at nine o'clock in extravagant and colorful 
costumes. Columbine dances with Pierrot ; Colum- 
4 49 



WINTER JOURNEYS 

bine dances with a tall grandee from Spain, leaving 
Pierrot desolate; Columbine dances with one 
strange figure after another; and Pierrot finally 
plucks jip heart. About eleven o'clock masks are 
taken off and the dancing is continued in the ordi- 
nary facial disguise of humanity. 



ST. AUGUSTINE, THE FOUNTAIN 
OF YOUTH 



ST. AUGUSTINE, THE FOUNTAIN OF 
YOUTH 

LONG, dreamy streets, bright, luxuriant 
flowers, heavy odors, languor-compening 
w air, blue sky, white sands, clumsy palm 
trees, a general attitude of complete relaxation on 
the broad bosom of good Mother Nature ; this is the 
atmosphere of " Old St. Augustine." " Old St. 
Augustine? " To no other city in the United States 
can this term of affection be so fitly applied as to 
the most ancient point of European habitation in 
the New World. 

This is the spirit of the place and this is the 
way one always thinks of it whether he views it in 
reminiscence or in the fine colors of reality. Yet 
the picture needs some additions: Place in this 
dreamy environment train-loads of day visitors, 
two of the great pleasure hotels of the country, and 
a number of smaller hostelries with their regiments 
of people ; add to this numbers of shops opened to 
cater to these people, and hordes of bus, hack and 
jitney drivers anxious to carry you (whether or no) 

53 



WINTER JOURNEYS 

to points of interest in the old city, and you have a 
good idea of St. Augustine as it is to-day. 
/ The charm of St. Augustine is unmistakable 
! and omnipresent. Once one has sensed, once one 
has heard it, amidst the confusion and over all the 
, hubbub of the vulgar every-day life of the place, it 
Walls like the refrain of some good music in the 
/mind while one is walking down a noisy street. 
For my part I believe that I would like St. Augus- 
tine better during the summer when the winter 
visitors are not on hand, for during the " season " 
it is almost impossible to see the place for the 
people. It is difficult then to enter in spirit into 
the Hfe of the city and dream, as the old city 
assuredly does, of the days when the banner of 
proud Spain waved over the ramparts of old Fort 
Marion, of the days when swash-buckling bucca- 
neers in the adjacent waters were a reality, though 
maybe not so picturesque a reality as distance has 
painted them, when old Spain was a young Spain, 
■ and all the world held simple ideas and unsophisti- 
\ cated quests. 

It will not need a deeply learned historian to 
tell one that St. Augustine was founded more than 
54 



ST. AUGUSTINE 

four centuries ago. On Easter Sunday, March 27, 
1513, the ludicrous httle high-pooped ships of Ponce 
de Leon, Knight of Spain, came to anchor off the 
shore here, and that jaunty knight himself took pos- 
session of the land in the name of King Ferdinand 
of Spain, calling it Florida, the Land of Flowers. 
Juan Ponce hoped to find the fabled Fountain of 
Youth. He did find the Fountain of Youth — but 
it was for his name, not his physical being. Who 
can say that this is not the fairer immortality? 

Time went on, and at length when the reckon- 
ing of fifty-two years had been taken out of the 
treasury of events, came Pedro Menendez, an ambi- 
tious colonizer. There then began at this spot a 
period of hatred and slaughter of the French in 
the New World under this man's direction, and 
being hated and slaughtered by the French in return 
under somebody's else direction. This period in- 
cluded the taking and sack of Fort Caroline, and 
the heroic counter-stroke of Simon de Gorgues, the 
Frenchman, all of which has been told in detail in 
works professedly devoted to the histoiy of Florida. 
Menendez began work on fortifications which, en- 
larged, improved, and rebuilt, became Fort Marion 

55 



WINTER JOURNEYS 

of the present. St. Augustine was founded, it may 

be added, on the site of an old Indian town of much 

consequence amongst the aborigines. 

/ In 1762 St. Augustine came into the possession 

of the EngHsh when Florida was ceded to Britain 

,by Spain in exchange for Cuba. For twenty-two 

years the lion of St. George floated over Fort 

\ Marion and then in 1784, by another exchange, 

; through which England secured the Bahama islands, 

i the city again became the possession of Spain. July 

12, 1821, the yellow banner of Castile and Aragon 

gave way to the Stars and Stripes. 

This is but a brief sketch of the skeleton of the 
history of one of the most historic points in the 
United States. 

Of the past of St. Augustine certain memorials 
have come down, — landmarks which have with- 
stood the attacks of the centuries. Until very re- 
cently the city was much richer in its heritage from 
the past than it is now. A devastating fire several 
years ago very materially altered St. Augustine's 
physical aspect. Of such landmarks the most fa- 
mous are: Fort Marion; the city gates; the Spanish 
administration building, now used as a post-office; 
56 



ST. AUGUSTINE 

the cathedral ; the Plaza de la Constitucion, a very 
beautiful little bit of green sward in the center of 
the city; the mission building; and the Franciscan 
monastery. Truly a fine assortment of sights to 
see and places to visit, and all within easy walking 
distance ! 

The principal street of St. Augustine is St. 
George street, running from north to south and 
following the line of the historic old coast road of 
Florida. It is the string upon which the beads of 
the city are strung. At the northern end of this 
street are the city gates and the remains of the old 
city wall. Here also is Fort Marion. 

St. George street is now the shopping district 
of St. Augustine. It is narrow, dark, and over- 
hung by balconies in typical old Spanish fashion. 
Between St. George street and the water-front lies 
Charlotte street, another one of the quaint old 
streets of the city, and leading from St. George 
street to the water-front are various narrow pas- 
sages, or lanes, which have become famous through- 
out this country because of their constricted 
proportion?. 

Conspicuous amongst the advantages of St. 

57 



WINTER JOURNEYS 

Augustine to the winter visitor are the many inter- 
esting walks and drives that he may take here. 
There is no lack of guides; whenever one issues 
from the gates of the hotel he is beset by a horde 
of hackmen and motor proprietors who are anxious 
to do you the honors of the town. They will take 
you to the Fountain of Youth where Ponce de Leon 
is fabled to have drunk. They will take you to 
Anastasia Island; they will take you almost any- 
where! And to tell the truth their charges are 
reasonable. 

The Fountain of Youth is situated about half a 
mile from the City Gates on out past old Fort 
Marion. You are driven into a very commonplace 
looking yard, and then, after the payment of a small 
honorarium, conducted with much ceremony into a 
most ordinary looking spring house. Here is a 
spring of clear water and your guide attempts to 
give you a drink from it in a glass which has done 
service for years to all nations, manners and creeds 
of men. You are then invited to look upon a cross 
made of coquina, which is the building material of 
the neighborhood, and are told that the object was 

unearthed several years ago. It lies beside the 

58 




THE "UAPTISTEin',"AT "THE FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH" 




THE "ponce" FOUNTAIN, A GATHEKING PLACE FOR CHILDREN 



ST. AUGUSTINE 

spring and your guide will repeat for your benefit 
a romantic history connected with it. No doubt 
there is a basis of fact for his story. I do not know. 
I do not remember the story. 

Not far from the Fountain of Youth are two 
tall trees with a self-conscious expression, beneath 
which it is claimed Ponce de Leon set up a 
Baptistery. 
/ There is a multiplicity of hotels in St. Augus- 
( tine to suit all purses and tastes. If the winter 
, visitor can afford to indulge himself he will be best 
■ served at one of the two houses of the Florida East 
I Coast Company, — the Alcazar or the Ponce de 
\ Leon. These two establishments face each other 
across King street and form practically a continu- 
ous group of buildings. They are of Spanish archi- 
tecture, are of imposing size, and make up together 
a most attractive picture. 

I am assured by Mr. Wm, McAuliffe, the genial 
manager of the Alcazar, that this house was one of 
the favorite homes of the late Henry M. Flagler. 
I am not surprised to hear this because there is so 
homelike an atmosphere in the house. While not 
of so great dignity as the Ponce, the Alcazar pos- 

59 



WINTER JOURNEYS 

sesses a distinctive atmosphere of ease and physical 
well-being. 

One of the great beauties of the Alcazar is the 
court. This is completely enclosed by the walls of 
the hotel and is surrounded by arcades in which 
there are shops, and where there are chairs and com- 
fortable lounging places. It has been very highly 
developed horticulturally, and contains a fountain 
in the middle whose tinkling waters give music to 
the ear, while the flowers delight the eye. 

In the rear of the Alcazar Hotel is the Alcazar 
casino, in which there are a large swimming-pool 
and a well-conducted bath establishment. All of the 
important features of hydrotherapy are included 
in this establishment and the conduct of the place 
is in the hands of competent medical men. Every 
Saturday night " water sports " are held in the pool, 
and call forth large numbers of spectators and 
participants. 

One of the great beauties of the Ponce de Leon 
Hotel is the lobby, whose distinguishing feature is 
its cupola and the decoration of the galleries 
through which the shaft of the cupola runs. The 
atmosphere of the Ponce breathes of reserve and 
60 



ST. AUGUSTINE 

of fine dignity, and it is the aim of the manager, Mr. 
Robert Murray, to maintain this tone in his house. 

The whole Ponce building is a very beautiful 
work of architecture but it would be impossible to 
give an extended description of it in these pages. 
Its most conspicuous single feature is the Grand 
Parlor, a series of connected rooms, decorated with- 
out regard to expense in the most sumptuous fash- 
ion. Good paintings adorn the walls. On gala 
occasions when the Grand Parlor is called into use 
it is a spectacle of magnificence. 

The gardens of the Ponce are also very beauti- 
ful. They surround the house on three sides, and 
are planted with many rare shrubs and trees. The 
fountain just in front of the hotel is a most attrac- 
tive detail of the approach to the place, and has a 
host of friends, particularly amongst children who 
play around it. At night it is illuminated with 
colored lights. 

Another of the beauties of the Ponce, one almost 
rivalling the Grand Parlor, is the dining-room, and 
it is extremely doubtful whether there is as beauti- 
ful a dining-room in any other public house in the 

country. A large, arched ceiling, decorated in a mel- 

61 



WINTER JOURNEYS 

low, quiet key, an impressive entrance, and massive 
carved furniture are the key-notes of the whole. 
Good service and good food help to maintain the 
comfort of the "inner man." 

It is the custom every evening at the Ponce to 
give a concert of good music. This custom is varied 
on Sundays by giving selections from those works 
of music which are of a graver trend. These con- 
certs have come to be very greatly enjoyed. 

An interesting Ponce institution is the way 
that those in the house have of taking their coffee in 
the lobby after dinner. So a very gay and unusual 
spectacle is this lobby, with its tributary corridors, 
after the dinner hour. Merry groups of diners are 
scattered around and the pleasing aroma of coffee 
is in the air. 

To me St. Augustine is saturated with the per- 
sonality and influence of Mr. Flagler. It was where 
he began his gargantuan enterprise. It was where 
he spent a great deal of his time. It is here that his 
body rests. A very human man was Mr. Flagler 
but, I have come to believe, a very great one, as 
well. A dreamer among dreamers, and a man of 
action among men of action, he was that rare com- 
62 




THROUGH THE DOOKWAY OF THE PONCE 




A \1STA I.N THE AL( AZAH tOUKT 



ST. AUGUSTINE 

bination of the man who can conceive great thoughts 
and carry them into being too. When one reflects 
that it was to the initiative of this man alone that 
the whole development of the east coast of Florida, 
both as a vrinter resort and a place of permanent 
residence and the carrying on of the affairs of 
hmnan lives, was due, one can realize how potent a 
factor this man really was. As I have accumulated 
in St. Agustine quite a number of facts pertaining 
to Mr. Flagler and his work in Florida, I think I 
shall reproduce a few of them here. They may be of 
interest, not only as relating to St. Augustine but 
to the whole Florida east coast : 

On October 10, 1885, work was begun on the Ponce de 
Leon Hotel ; it was opened for guests on January 10, 1888. 

On December 31, 1885, Mr. Flagler bought what was 
known as the Green Road, or the Jacksonville, St. Augus- 
tine & Halifax River Railway, from South Jacksonville to 
St. Augustine, a narrow gauge road. 

The Jacksonville bridge was begun in the fall of 1888. 
This was among the first of the all-steel bridges constructed 
in the United States, and the first train over the bridge to 
St. Augustine was on December 22, 1889. 

The Hotel Alcazar and the Casino were completed in 
1888. 

63 



WINTER JOURNEYS 

Mr. Flagler bought the Ormond Hotel at Ormond and 
enlarged it in 1888. 

In September of 1888 the gauge of all Southern rail- 
road systems was changed from 5 feet to 4 feet 8^^ inches, 
or standard gauge, the narrow, or 3 feet gauge of many 
of the railroads of Florida being changed to standard at 
the same time, and in the spring of the season of 1889, 
after the opening of the Jacksonville bridge, the first 
through Pullman train was run from New York to St. 
Augustine; this was called the " Florida Special." 

In 1889 Mr. Flagler bought the railroads known as the 
St. Augustine & Halifax River Railroad, from St. Augus- 
tine to Palatka, and from St. Augustine to Tocoi, known 
as the St. Johns Railway Co., and connected them up with 
his other roads. 

In 1890 the beautiful Memorial church in St. Augus- 
tine was dedicated on Palm Sunday, March 30th. 

On May 16, 1892, work was begun on the railroad 
south of Daytona. This was known as the Florida Coast 
& Gulf Railway at that time. Train service was opened to 
New Smyrna on November 2, 1892. 

On July 18, 1892, Mr. Flagler bought the St. Johns 
& Indian River Railroad, running from a point near San- 
ford to Titusville, and on June 21, 1893, he bought the 
Atlantic & Western Railroad, from Blue Springs, on the 
St. Johns river, to New Smyrna. 

On October 6, 1892, the name of the railroad company 
64 



ST. AUGUSTINE 

was changed to the Jacksonville, St. Augustine & Indian 
River Railway Co. 

On January 29, 1893, the road was opened to Fort 
Pierce, and on April 2, 1894, it was opened to West Palm 
Beach, and to Palm Beach in 1895. 

In April, 1893, work was begun on the Royal Poinciana 
Hotel at Palm Beach, which was opened for guests in the 
spring of 1894. 

In 1893, land was bought and the city of West Palm 
Beach was laid out and opened for settlement. 

In February, 1895, Mr. Flagler was shown lemon and 
lime blossoms cut at Buena Vista, Miami and Cocoanut 
Grove, Fla., shortly after the freeze, and on realizing that 
there was a part of the state, inaccessible almost at that 
time, but unhurt by the freeze, he concluded negotiations 
pending and began the construction of his railroad south 
of West Palm Beach. He also began work on the Break- 
ers Hotel at Palm Beach, and the Ro^^al Palm Hotel at 
Miami, and the city of Miami was laid out and opened for 
development. 

On September 13, 1895, the name of the railroad was 
changed from the Jacksonville, St. Augustine & Indian 
River Railway, to the Florida East Coast Railway. 

On April 22, 1896, the first train ran into Miami, and 
the city was incorporated in July, 1896. 

In 1896 steamship lines were established to Key West 
and Nassau from Miami. 

5 65 



II 



WINTER JOURNEYS 

Mr. Flagler bought the Victoria Hotel at Nassau in 
1897, and in 1898 he built the Colonial Hotel there. 

On September 29, 1900, Mr. Flagler bought the Jack- 
sonville & Atlantic Railroad, extending it to Mayport. 

In 1903, work was begun on the line to Homestead, and 
the railroad opened for traffic on June 11, 1904. 

The extension to Key Largo of the Key West Extension 
was begun in January, 1904<, and completed in 1905. 
Completed to Knights Key and opened for traffic on Janu- 
ary 2, 1908, and on February 5, 1908, connection was 
there made with steamers for Key West and Havana. The 
line was finished to Key West and opened for traffic on 
January 22, 1912. 

Work was begun on the Okeechobee Division of the 
Florida East Coast Railway in 1912, and it was opened 
for service to Okeechobee, Fla., on January 4, 1915. 

On January 6, 1915, the ferry service between Key 
West and Havana was inaugurated by the steamer, 
" Henry Morrison Flagler." 

It may be recalled that the Flagler fortune was 
well established before Mr. Flagler came to Flordia. 
Mr. J. E. Ingraham, Vice-President of the 
Florida East Coast Railway, was closely associated 
with Mr. Flagler during his work in Florida and 
has at times given some of his recollections of his 
foiTiier chief. He once said: 
66 




l>()liH\ (IK rilK "l'i)N(K '■ AT MOHT 



ST. AUGUSTINE 

In talking with Mr. Flagler, I asked him how it hap- 
pened that he came to engage in the development of Florida. 
He said that there were two reasons that actuated him. 
One was that he believed that his fortune had been given 
him for a definite purpose, which was, " to help his fellow 
men to help themselves," and this he could do better in 
Florida than elsewhere; the second (and he said this with 
a twinkle in his eye) " I wanted to see if a plain American 
could not succeed where the Spaniard, the Frenchman and 
the Englishman had successively failed." 

The Flagler Memorial Chapel, built during the 
man's lifetime in memory of his only daughter, who 
died at the bloom of life, is to be found in St. Augus- 
tine. It is a very beautiful piece of construction con- 
ceived in the Spanish or Moorish vein of building. 
Mr. Flagler's body lies in a mausoleum here. There 
is also in St. Augustine the Flagler Memorial 
Hospital. 

And yet it is not of Mr. Flagler or of any man's 
activity that one thinks in this ancient city. It is 
of quiet days and peaceful nights and life that goes 
on without effort. 

Like almost every other spot on the globe, St. 
Augustine has been invaded by the moving-picture 
camera man. During my visit there this winter a 

67 



WINTER JOURNEYS 

moving picture company had taken possession of 
the interior of old Fort Marion. They had made a 
very colorful transformation from one stand-point ; 
the interior of the old stronghold looked like a mar- 
ket street in a Moorish city. There were bright-cos- 
tumed actors and actresses in swarms, heaps of vari- 
colored vegetables and fruits, and other accessories. 

It was evident that moving-picture people be- 
lieve in dressing their scenes out in the proper 
colors, though these colors photograph as black and 
white. They say that in no other fashion is one 
able to get the " value " of the colors. For my part 
I think that the actors and actresses might be 
dressed up in various shades of gray. But then 
indeed such scenes as the one in Fort Marion would 
lack the uproarious delight to the eye that they have 
now. 

I must not forget to speak of the moving-pict- 
ure donkey. He was one of the star actors. 
Though cranky at times he nevertheless went 
through his part with a staid sobriety that might 
have been a lesson to many a human being cast in 
an unworthy role. When he became sulky or balky, 
however, it was the manager's part (as always with 
68 



ST. AUGUSTINE 

stars) to reason with him and attempt to bring his 
talents into the picture once more. The manager 
did reason very energetically with this donkey, as 
all can testify, and I tried to get a snap-shot 
showing him at one time trying to drag the beast by 
force into the fray. 



ORMOND AND ROUNDABOUT 
AND THE BEACH 



tC^ormond and roundabout and 
the beach 

IT is not far from St. Augustine to Ormond as 
the crow flies, or as the train goes for that 
matter, though there is no similarity between 
these two things, but in point of centuries there is a 
very great difference as you will very soon find. 
Try as it will, St. Augustine will never get away 
from the old theme of the Seventeenth Century, 
while Ormond is Twentieth Century and new. It 
is the golfers' paradise of the east coast of Florida. 
One thinks of Pinehurst, one thinks of his coun- 
try club, in the car for Ormond. There are golf 
sticks scattered here and there and watched with 
that jealous concern which all good golfers give to 
such precious possessions. There must be a special 
school for porters who travel in " golf " cars, for see 
how carefullj^ this porter handles the bags of golf 
clubs and behold how yonder white-haired man on 
the opposite side of the aisles glares after him as he 
leaves the car with that darling bag of sticks as the 

train draws up to the station at Ormond. 

73 



WINTER JOURNEYS 

The first sight of the hotel at Ormond, to be fan- 
ciful, reminds one of a great white bird. The ram- 
bling verandas, or "galleries," as they are called 
in the South, extend far out from the house like 
wings. The house itself is large, and with these 
spreading verandas covers an immense space of 
ground. 

Ormond like others of the Florida East Coast 
resorts, is situated on an island about half a mile 
from the mainland. It is one of those islands 
peculiar to the Florida coast, very long and very 
narrow; not much more than a mile across at the 
point where the resort is placed. Between the main- 
land and the island run the waters of the Halifax 
river, an excellent harborage for yachts. 

The resort, itself, is off the main line of the rail- 
way, but during the season the railway company 
runs two trains a day on a branch road to the place. 
These trains stop at the very doors of the hotel. 

Entering the hotel after the preliminary survey 
outside, one confronts a large and airy lobby of no 
very formal aspect, which rambles from the right 
hand on into the body of the house. Perhaps Mr. 
Trudeau, the genial manager of the establishment, 
74 



ORMOND AND ROUNDABOUT 

is on the spot to welcome you (he makes a point 
of meeting the trains) and his hearty handclasp is 
a pleasant beginning of your stay. 

The rooms of Ormond-on-The-Halifax have the 
same rate as that of the other hotels of the Florida 
East Coast group, that is to say five dollars a 
day and up. They are uniformly well arranged, 
well looked after, and the exposure in almost any 
part of the house is good. Perhaps the favorite 
situation is on the Halifax river side looking out to 
the west. The sunsets from this side of the house 
are most advantageously viewed. 

If one has come by the Royal Palm Express, 
which reaches this destination at half past twelve in 
the morning, he will no doubt after lunch desire to 
go either to look upon or play upon the golf links. If 
one desires to play, however, he does not stand a 
very good chance during the season of getting a 
place on the links unless his application has been 
put in the day before. During the most of the 
winter golfers are sent over the course at three- 
minute intervals and the links are full from nine 
o'clock in the morning to five o'clock in the after- 
noon. To reach the golf course one goes toward 

75 



WINTER JOURNEYS 

the ocean front, for the course lies between the 
hotel, which is on the river, and the seashore. Just 
what is the charm of the Ormond golf course? 
This is a hard question to answer. Perhaps it is 
the combination of well-kept lawn such as one may 
find at any first-class course in the North, palm 
trees, and scrubby palmetto bushes, and the atmos- 
phere of languorous Florida. Then again the 
course, itself, has been most ingeniously laid out, 
and presents many pleasing and puzzling problems 
of play. It is not so very hilly that any one would 
become fatigued from climbing, salt breezes blow 
across it all the time and the hazards are so arranged 
that they give an edge to the play but do not make 
one discouraged. It is an eighteen-hole course with 
sand greens, as is customary on most Southern 
courses. The turf on the fairways is surprisingly 
green, however, and vigorous in growth for this 
section of the country. 

There is an artificial lake on the sixth hole and 
one on the seventh hole. I doubt if there is a more 
picturesque single feature of a golf course than the 
lake on the sixth hole at Ormond. Just beyond 
this little body of water is a palm tree which seems 
76 



ORMOND AND ROUNDABOUT 

to cast its grotesque reflection in the pool from no 
matter what angle you view it (just as the eyes of 
old masters' canvases seem to follow you around 
the room) ! The palm tree, like all palm trees, looks 
like a feather duster stuck upside down, or a bunch 
of celery placed in a water carafe, or something 
like that, but one grows to affection for palm trees 
in this country, begins to like them as one does ugly 
bull-dogs, and he likes to carry away from the South 
vivid memories of them. 

The club house overlooks both golf course and 
ocean, and one may sit either upon the golf side of 
the house and be refreshed by the sight of the green 
swells of ground or he may sit upon the ocean side 
and gaze over the marvellous Ormond-Daji:ona 
beach, with the long series of blue-white breakers 
agitatedly moving before him. 

Bathing is not the popular performance at 
Ormond that it is at Palm Beach (for instance) 
but there is no time in the season when there are 
not some guests of the establisliment who do not 
seek the ocean waters for a plunge. The favorite 
hour is about eleven o'clock in the morning. The 
water is rather chilly, however, most of the winter ; 

77 



WINTER JOURNEYS 

the sun is not quite so hot here as farther south in 
Florida; so, altogether, the beach is not the gay 
scene here at the bathing hour that it is at some 
other places. 

And now a word as to the Ormond-Da>i:ona 
beach, one of the most famous stretches of sand in 
the world. One's first glimpse of it is apt to bring 
a feeling of disappointment as one's first glimpse of 
the Mississippi or other natural wonders is apt to 
bring failure to comprehend at once. Compared to 
the vast expanse of the ocean and the sky, of which 
one sees so much in this flat land, the little rim of 
white sand seems very insignificant, indeed. But 
when one walks upon this rim he realizes how broad 
it is. For fifteen miles or more it extends here so 
wide that five hundred can march abreast upon it 
at low tide, and so hard that it is regularly used as 
an automobile road between points on the coast in 
this part of Florida. 

There is not a great variety of walks in the 
vicinity of the Hotel Ormond. One may either 
walk up the coast, or down the coast, or up or down 
the shore of the Halifax. But wherever one goes he 
will find himself in pleasant surroundings. The 
78 





ox THE liEACH AT URMOND 




A TYPICAI, HALIP'AX RIVER VIEW 



ORMOND AND ROUNDABOUT 

homes adjoining this resort seem to have been built 
with a great idea of permanence and all-the-year- 
round comfort. They are substantially constructed 
structures with gardens around them, — in some 
cases with large plantations of fruit-bearing trees 
around. 

Evening life at the Hotel Ormond is made 
rather distinctive by the fact that the hotel has such 
large verandas. Congenial groups gather and 
watch the sun die, and linger on into the evening to- 
gether discussing sundry topics. During a part of 
the season there come evenings when there is a snap 
of cold in the air and it is not quite comfortable to 
be out of doors. On these evenings the guests of the 
house gather in the long rambling lobby. One is 
comforted by the huge fireplaces in this part of the 
house and these fireplaces, with their generous, roar- 
ing fires, one will not soon forget who has been to 
Ormond. 

Warm weather or cold, however, there are some 
persons who will stay in the lobby. These are the 
card players. Ormond is a great center for bridge 
and whist champions. Intent groups of four, they 
carry on their evening's business hardly ever utter- 

79 



WINTER JOURNEYS 

ing a word, glaring at their cards, and playing with 
an earnestness which applied to revolutionary- 
activity would mean the upsetting of the social 
system of the world. 

There is a strong infusion of New England in 
the Hotel Ormond. So strong that the manage- 
ment has brought from " Down East " a special 
cook for cooking pastries. When I first heard this 
story I thought that it was the usual sort of travel- 
ler's yarn. But acquaintance with the excellent 
pies and pastries of the hotel convinced me that if 
this were a fiction it was so worthy a tale that it 
deserved perpetuation. The menu and the service 
generally of the Hotel Ormond is exceptionally 
good. 

Five miles from Ormond by railway and ten 
minutes by automobile is Daytona, another one of 
the very pleasant winter stopping-places of Florida. 
I have passed through Daytona several times and 
once made full arrangements to stop for an extend- 
ed visit, but I was disappointed in my expectation at 
this time and whenever I have gone through have 
not been able to make a stay. But I have a friend 
who is enthusiastic about Daytona, and from a letter 
80 




THE SIXTH HOLE \l "|,M(i\|) 




AN OLD FRIEND OF THE HOUSE! 



ORMOND AND ROUNDABOUT 

from him I extract the following observations about 
the place: 

No one sneezes in Daytona! What a joy and delight 
it is to be so far from snow storms in this sunny, balmy 
atmosphere! This is a most wonderfully healthy spot. 
Even very elderly people are apparently free from ills of 
body and mind,which is a lot to be thankful for. 

It is plain that he is an enthusiast. 

You certainly were mistaken when you told me that the 
only people I would meet here would be old retired business 
men and their tired wives. While it is true that there are 
a lot of " antiques " there is also a very jolly set of younger 
people. There are tennis, clock golf, swimming in the 
swimming-pool (and not in the middle of the public road !) 
and this morning I walked to the golf course with a West- 
ern man who is very keen about Daytona's new eighteen- 
hole course. There are wonderful motor trips on the 
hard shell roads in the vicinity. It is great pleasure to 
drive through tropical foliage with Spanish moss hanging 
over head, and brilliant poinsettias and other flowers blos- 
soming in the well-kept gardens beside the way. Also 
there are a number of delightful boat trips. Altogether I 
am in a fair way to enjoying myself. 

The best hotel in Daytona is the Despland, but 
there are smaller hostelries and many good board- 
6 81 



WINTER JOURNEYS 

ing-houses. On the ocean front between Daytona 
and Ormond is Seabreeze. 

Altogether this whole section of east Florida 
in the vicinity of Ormond and Daytona seems 
destined to great and greater favor with the winter 
resort visitors as time goes by. 

Upon my last visit to Ormond the hotel was 
cheered by a visit from the richest man in the world. 
It was marvellous to see how we all brightened up 
when we knew that he was in our midst. Well- 
known business men, — and there were some very 
well-known business men in the house, — crowded 
around the great being to get a chance to catch his 
eye or shake his hand. And when he went riding 
in his automobile the occasion was a public celebra- 
tion. I watched him set out one day in his machine. 
At least five cameras were levelled in his direction 
and a couple of hundred pairs of eyes. A bell-boy 
was standing beside me. "Whew! Richest man 
in the world," quoth he, " if he gives one of us boys 
a nickel, you would think that he was endowing a 
church I " 

For my part I have a sneaking admiration of 

large proportions for Mr. Rockefeller. Despite 
82 



ORMOND AND ROUNDABOUT 

\the adulation poured out upon him and the fear- 
isome glamour of the fact of his wealth he will not 

; tip a boy unless he receives a solid value in return. 
Perhaps he is even so rich that he can afford to 

' continue in this course. I wish that I could do 
so myself. 



GETTING INTO FLORIDA 



GETTING INTO FLORIDA 

THE difficulty in Florida still is, not how 
to get to the east or west coast from the 
North by railway, but how to get from 
the east to the west coast, or vice versa. 

This problem was presented to me with peculiar 
poignancy once when I was in Miami. It was my 
desire to go to Fort Myers and then to Useppa 
Island, where I hoped to test some of the tarpon 
fishing and other diversions of this place. On con- 
sulting various railroad guides, maps, and many 
walking travel authorities, I discovered that I could 
accomplish this short journey, — Fort Myers not 
being more than a hundred miles from me as the 
crow flies, — by one of three ways: I could go to 
Key West and then take a coasting steamer which 
plied up the west coast, thus going around the toe 
of Florida and making a two days' trip to get to 
my hundred-mile-distant destination; I could go 
to Jacksonville and then down by the Atlantic 
Coast Line, another two days' jaunt; or, getting 

desperate, I could take the new route through the 

87 



WINTER JOURNEYS 

Everglades, going up the drainage canal from Fort 
Lauderdale to Lake Okeechobee, thence over to the 
head of the Caloosahatchie river and down, a three 
days' trip altogether. Since my time was limited I 
spent four days talking the matter over and was 
not able to get to Useppa Island. And this I still 
regret. 

To get into Florida from either coast is, indeed, 
a problem. To tell the truth there is still much of 
the interior of Florida that is not yet known, that 
is to say in the Everglades section.* One may, at 
all events, however, take many small trips that give 
at least an idea of the interior of this florid country. 

One may, for instance, go from Jacksonville by 
steamer up the St. John's river, a very delightful 
run. The St. John's winds from up in Florida and 
is navigable for nearly two hundred miles from its 
mouth. The steamers follow a course through a 
lane of tropical foliage, stopping at mossy landings 
which appear suddenly around the bends of the 
river. This trip is peculiarly interesting in that 
from studying out the cargoes at these little land- 

* Lieutenant Hugh L. Willoughby's " Across the Everglades " 
gives a most interesting account of a trip of exploration. 

88 



GETTING INTO FLORIDA 

ings one becomes well acquainted with the agri- 
cultural, or whatever the word is for fruit cul- 
tural, possibilities of the state. The river at differ- 
ent points widens out into lakes. Lake George for 
instance, and Lake Woodruff. Finally one reaches 
Sanford, which is the head of navigation of the 
St. John's. 

If one is at Daytona and wishes to go into the 
country to the north, he may travel to Palatka by 
the Florida East Coast and here change to the 
Coast Line, and thus complete his journey. If the 
point that he wishes to reach be south of him, he 
may go to Titusville, and from Titusville strike 
back into the country by a branch of the Florida 
East Coast which ends at Enterprise Junction, 
where again the tracks of the Atlantic Coast Line 
may be found. If it be to a point in the Everglades 
section he may go to Titusville, from Titusville to 
Maytown and there take a branch of the East Coast 
south. 

But the easiest way for one who wishes to go 
from east to west of Florida or vice versa and desires 
to travel in comfort with few changes is to go to 
Jacksonville and then to his destination. If he is 

89 



WINTER JOURNEYS 

south of Rockledge on the east coast and wishes to 
go to the west coast, it might be better to go all the 
way down to Key West and take the coasting 
steamer north from this point. This steamer sails 
every other day and one should consult his schedules 
carefully before setting out. 

In addition it is well also to keep in mind always 
the numbers of autobus hnes that are being pushed 
back into Florida from the coasts. A line from 
Daytona, for instance, runs west as far as Deland 
and in many other sections these motor lines far 
excel the railways in speediness, convenience, and 
ease of travel. 

The Lake country, as it is called, in the central 
part of the state, contains many points well worth 
visiting. The section is best approached from the 
east coast by way of the Titusville branch of the 
East Coast Railway, or from Jacksonville by Sea- 
board or Coast Line. 

Many points in Florida are accessible to small 
steamers. There is a steamer line, — though this is 
not in the interior of the country, — which runs from 
St. Augustine down the coast, protected from the 
Atlantic ocean by that long line of islands parallel 
90 



GETTING INTO FLORIDA 

to the mainland which is one of the distinguishing 
characteristics of this section of the Atlantic sea- 
board. Again there are the Ocklawaha river 
steamers penetrating to inland points. This Ockla- 
waha trip is famous for its scenic beauties. 

The Ocklawaha (I am not saying the word to 
practise it) steamers run from Palatka to Silver 
Springs, one hundred and thirty-five miles in all, — 
making the whole trip in about twenty-four hours. 

I have before mentioned the trip through the 
Everglades from coast to coast. This is a monot- 
onous voyage in some ways, as the Everglades 
present no very diverting features of scenery. One 
proceeds from Fort Lauderdale up the drainage 
canal to Lake Okeechobee and reaches this body of 
water after about twelve hours' journey. Lake 
Okeechobee is worth seeing. A great sea sur- 
rounded by saw-grass and the vegetation of the 
Everglades it, at least, gives one a novelty of nature 
to look upon. From the head of the drainage canal 
the course lies across the lake to the head of the 
western drainage canal, and then on into and down 
the Caloosahatchie river. Upon the western shore 
of Okeechobee an enterprising real estate company 

91 



WINTER JOURNEYS 

has opened a small modem hotel, — the Moore 
Haven, — at which one may tarry for a few days if 
he so desire. 

It would perhaps be proper for me here to say 
something about the project of draining the Ever- 
glades and thus throwing millions of fertile acres 
open to settlement in the middle of Florida. 

The project is feasible if engineers' statements 
are to be believed, but visitors to Florida will hear 
so much of this scheme that I haven't the heart to 
mention it here. It is Mke the visions of sudden 
wealth in chickens which disturbed our youth a few 
years ago. 

If a thoroughly inoculated Floridian grabs your 
button-hole, leans forward confidentially and begins 
to talk in a low, introspective tone with a rapt ex- 
pression, break away as soon as possible. Don't 
mind using force to do so. He is just about to burst 
out about the Everglades. 

I sincerely hope that the Everglades will be 

drained one day. A large, untidy, sloppy tract of 

land like that ought to be tidied up somehow. But 

an amazingly large quantity of conversation will be 

lost to Florida when the enterprise is concluded. 
92 



SEEING FLORIDA FROM A TIME- 
TABLE IN JAX 



SEEING FLORIDA FROM A TIME- 
TABLE IN JAX 

IT is not my nick-name, this " Jax," but it is 
the sobriquet which the busy httle city has 
chosen for itself. Jacksonville has been abbre- 
viated into Jax; everywhere on wharf fronts, on 
advertising boards, and wherever the name is used 
you see this unique appellation. Jacksonville has 
been abbreviated into Jax, — lo, how have the mighty 
fallen! 

Truly it is a disciple of Bustle, this city. The 
water front has been schemed out after a Titan's 
conception. If ever the place lives up to this water 
I front, and no doubt it will live up to it some day, 
it will be one of the greatest sea-ports on the east- 
ern coast. Then the people on the streets, that is 
the Jacksonvillians, or Jaxians, — they have a snap 
and decision to their gait that one has come to 
associate with cold climate cities. Very much a 
Southern city so far as mellow climate is concerned, 
the commercial atmosphere of the place breathes of 

the mercantile North. 

95 



WINTER JOURNEYS 

The best way to approach Jax, I believe, is by 
water. One winds up the long St. John's river, 
refreshing one's memory of the history of the early 
settlements here; of the French with their sturdy 
Fort Caroline and their friendly dealings with the 
natives; of the capture of this fort and the cruel 
massacre of its garrison by the relentless Spaniards ; 
of all of the brave adventurers who wrapped the 
color of this warm country around their names many 
a year ago.* Perhaps one has no memory of read- 
ing of these events, however, and in that case he 
may gaze out over green and opal tinted marshes 
until the first sight of the city comes over the low- 
lands to greet his eyes. There are sky-scrapers in 
Jax, — no one may doubt that who has approached 
the city by water. At length one is at the wharf 
and is turned out amidst the clamorous horde of 
hotel porters, cabbies and hack boys. 

Of recent years Jax has become a winter head- 
quarters for the moving-picture industry; and the 
visitor to the city may divert himself by going to 

* For a full description of the Southern forts and the struggles 
between French and Spanish see " Quaint and Historic Forts of 
North America " by the present writer. 

96 



FLORIDA FROM JAX 

see any one of a number of studios in full blast. 
He may in addition divert himself after he has been 
in the studio for a while by accepting a small sum of 
money for his presence. For it is just as likely as 
not that he has been included without his knowledge 
in a mob scene, or in some other group scene of a 
heart-rending production just being filmed. This 
has been the amusing experience of a number of 
visitors to these establishments. They are honest, — 
these moving-picture studios, — they not only take 
your face and take your figure, but leave you no 
whit poorer than before. Indeed, something richer! 

But it is not of the city as a moving-picture 
center, or of the city itself, that I wish particularly 
to write, pleasant though the environs of Jax un- 
doubtedly are. It is of Jax, the railroad distrib- 
uting point for Florida, that I expect to treat. 

Take a map of Florida and spread it out before 
you. You will see that the three great railways of 
the state, — the Florida East Coast, the Atlantic 
Coast Line, and the Seaboard, — have their converg- 
ing point here. Take a railroad map of the state if 
one happens to be handy. Those big black lines 
represent the tracks of the particular company 
7 97 



WINTER JOURNEYS 

whose map you happen to be looking at. The httle, 
sick-looking, ana?mic lines are the competing roads. 
You will see that they all come to a focus at the same 
point. 

It has not been many years since Florida was a 
state almost without railroad facilities. But the 
masterful pioneer work of Henry M. Flagler and 
fierce competition have now made almost any part 
of the state accessible from Jacksonville. The trans- 
verse lines of the great peninsula are rather unsat- 
isfactory, however, as one will soon find out. 

Starting from Jacksonville one may reach St. 
Petersburg on the west coast by either the Atlantic 
Coast Line or the Seaboard, it being a night's trip 
in either case. St. Petersburg, the visitor will find, 
is delightful in itself and of importance because of 
its nearness to many well-known winter stopping 
places in this part of Florida. 

To reach Fort Myers and that famous tarpon 
fishing district, the Atlantic Coast Line is the most 
convenient route. This road also sends its trains 
down along the course of the St. John's river, past 
Deland, where is the Hotel College Arms, through 
Sanford, the center of a great celery growing dis- 
98 



FLORIDA FROM JAX 

trict, through Kissimmee, Lakeland and on over to 
Tampa. 

There is one bit of advice that I would like to 
give my readers who are contemplating going to 
some point in Florida not plainly marked on the 
time-table, and that is ; don't attempt to work it out 
yourself. Go to some reliable ticket agent. He is 
paid for doing it. Ask him to map your route for 
you. I have puzzled over the Florida time-tables, 
great and small, for some time, and have yet to be 
able, — outside of a few well-established trails, — to 
make head or tail of them. In the same manner 
don't attempt to compute mileage yourself, but let 
the conductor or ticket agent take as much as he 
wants. For one thing, the Florida East Coast Rail- 
way has mileage of its own and does not accept any 
other. And computing the number of miles from 
Florida time-tables, when there is more than one 
junction to make, is an intricate sum in addition 
and subtraction beyond almost any human power. 



SWINGING THE CIRCLE OF 
THE GULF 



SWINGING THE CIRCLE OF THE GULF 

THE seeker after balmy climes will find 
many places in which this condition is ful- 
filled in that great circle of the Gulf coast 
which on the maps of the United States looks like a 
huge bite taken out of the land. Starting at Pen- 
sacola and working around through Mobile, Pas- 
cagoula, Biloxi, Mississippi City, Gulfport, Pass 
Christian, Bay St. Louis, New Orleans and on down 
to Galveston, he may tarry at one of these places, or 
at the points between them, and be well pleased. 

In addition, there are certain natural features 
such as a richness of sea food, a plentitude of boat- 
ing and bathing for those who love these things, and 
the scenic aspects of the Gulf which give this whole 
segment a charm and individuality of its own. 

On account of its greater accessibility from the 
West and the Middle West, this section is probably 
better known as a wintering locality in these parts 
of the United States than in the East. Yet it draws 
its devotees from everj'^ portion of the country. 

Many of the permanent residents of the states 

103 



WINTER JOURNEYS 

which border on the Gulf maintain summer homes 
here. So this long circle of sand and shell roads 
has a dual life ; gay in winter with the visitors from 
the more temperate zones, and in simimer with its 
own people. 

Were it not for the mosquitoes, the Gulf coast 
might be popular in summer with Northern people, 
too, for it is not unbearably hot then. Almost every 
night at six o'clock there springs up a breeze from 
the Gulf that is sufficient to keep the sleeping hours 
cool. But no normal man from the North can 
fight mosquitoes which surpass all flights of imagi- 
nation, and maintain the good cheer of his physical 
being at the same time. 

Set a man down on almost any part of the Gulf 
coast and he will find himself in the same sort of 
surroundings ; a flat, low country, sandy soil, white 
shell roads, a blinding flood of light, dense-foliaged 
trees and the blue, very blue Gulf. 

This coast has been called America's Riviera. 
The same term has been applied to the east coast of 
Florida and to the west coast, also. But it fits 
very well, nevertheless, this particular district. 

Were the means of communication better, no 
104 



THE CIRCLE OF THE GULF 

doubt many visitors to the east coast of Florida 
would go over to the Gulf coast while in this part 
of the country. Were a solid, clean motor road 
built from Jacksonville to Pensacola, the east coast 
of Florida and the Gulf coast would flow into each 
other, — speaking of humanity as a fluid, — like two 
bodies of water at different levels suddenly con- 
nected by a broad canal. 

As things are, the railroad trip from Jackson- 
ville to Pensacola is most uncomfortable, take it in 
the day or at night as you please. It is not a very 
long trip, — not more than twelve hours, — but 
throughout its whole course one is plagued with dust 
and sand and torment of this character. 

In Pensacola one will find himself in a historic 
city and one which possesses many comforts and 
natural attractions. It is most modem and yet it is 
old, as well. Pensacola claims, and has a strong 
historical basis for the claim, that it is the oldest 
city in the United States, St. Augustine notwith- 
standing. Into the merits of this contention we will 
mot go. A city like a woman is just as old as it 
(looks and I am quite sure from this stand-point 

I that Pensacola is not as old as St. Augustine. 
\ 105 



WINTER JOURNEYS 

In Mobile one finds himself in rather a sedate 
old city and one that has the atmosphere that is 
popularly known as the " old South." It has many 
charms for residence and is, in addition, a progres- 
sive commercial center. Mobile was founded in 
1699 by the French, Pensacola having been of 
Spanish foundation, and was an important strong- 
hold when the two nations indicated tried to colo- 
nize the Gulf coast many, many years and, though 
completely inadequate to such a task individually, 
tried each to eliminate the other from the land. 
And yet 'tis said that men are reasoning animals! 

One of the great charms of Mobile to me is the 
fact that here one can find hills, real hills, and hills 
that one can see. It is on these hills that the sub- 
urbs and fine residences of Mobile are built- Water 
excursions are popular in this city, trips t© Fort 
Morgan and to the snapper banks, — beloved of 
fishermen, — and to other interesting places may 
easily be taken. There is, moreover a fine road 
along the shore of Mobile Bay which leads out from 
the city to the Dog River Fish and Hunt Club, the 
scene of many polite and happy junkettings. 

Ocean Springs, Biloxi and Mississippi City, — 
106 



THE CIRCLE OF THE GULF 

continuing on down the coast, — are popular places 
which cluster close together. Biloxi is one of 
the oldest settled points on the coast. A fortified 
site orginally, and held alternately by French and 
Spanish through the troubled years of its early his- 
tory, it contains many reminders of the Past. 
/ In this section is "Beauvoir," the home of Jef- 
■ ferson Davis after the close of the Civil War. 
I " Beauvoir " is now used as a Confederate Veter- 
\ ans Home, and on its spacious lawns are many old 
gentlemen who have not forgotten Jefferson Davis. 
' Two of the most delightful points on the Gulf 
are Pass Christian and Bay St. Louis, situated 
opposite each other at the entrance of the little St. 
Louis bay. President Wilson during the first year 
of his administration spent some weeks of the winter 
at Pass Christian. Both of these places contain 
many New Orleans people who live here and " com- 
mute " to the city for the day's work. They are 
essentially cottage communities, though they con- 
tain good hotels. 

The water assumes increasing importance from 
here on. The coast from this point to New Orleans 
is much cut up, and off the shore are many beautiful 

107 



WINTER JOURNEYS 

islands. Not far away is the Rigollets and the en- 
trance to Lake Pontchartrain, which, as most know, 
is that great body of brackish water back of New 
Orleans. A yachtsman may go through the Rigol- 
lets and Lake Catherine into Pontchartrain and 
find himself in a beautiful inland sea with easy access 
to the stores of Louisiana's largest city. 



A BIT OF THE OLD IN NEW 
ORLEANS 



A BIT OF THE OLD IN NEW ORLEANS 

TO the apparently simple question, " What 
do you think of New Orleans? " I have 
two diametrically opposite answers: The 
first of these answers is, " Oh, charming! An unique 
place in the United States." The second is, "Com- 
monplace, not at all out of the ordinary, simply an 
American city." It all depends on how the question 
is put. If my interrogator asks me what I think 
of old New Orleans I give the first answer, for that 
is what I do think. If my questioner merely asks 
me what I think of New Orleans, I give the second 
answer, for that is all anyone could think. 

The old part of New Orleans or " The French 
Quarter," as it is called, is a very well defined sec- 
tion of the city. It lies north of Canal street, east 
of the Mississippi river, west of the Illinois Central 
tracks at their scarlet entrance to the city, and is 
bounded on the fourth dimension only by the city 
limits. In these close confines one may find a sec- 
tion of old France with a dash of old Spain, queer 

overhanging houses with iron balconies, empty 

111 



WINTER JOURNEYS 

fronts of houses with low entrances giving access 
to broad and beautiful courtyards with marble 
statues therein, a very wonderful old cathedral, a 
general air of genteel decay, and a grace and warm- 
hearted beauty, altogether, that endears the locality 
to every visitor. 

I have lived in New Orleans from warm weather 
to warm weather and I have been in other places in 
the United States, too. Nowhere do I know of a 
more equable or delightful climate during the cool 
months than in this old city. The winter residents 
who contemplate spending a long time, or several 
months, in the city will no doubt prefer to hve in the 
new section of New Orleans, by which I mean the 
" American " part, that part which has grown up 
since the occupation by United States troops after 
the Louisiana Purchase. In that case they will be 
best advised to choose one of the boarding-houses on 
St. Charles avenue, Napoleon avenue, in that sec- 
tion of the city, or over toward the river on Tchoupi- 
toulas street. 

The casual visitor who is merely " passing 
through " will probably wish to stop at some hotel, 
and in that case he will find the St. Charles and the 
112 



THE OLD IN NEW ORLEANS 

Grunewald to answer every requirement. He may 
also secure accommodations in one of the boarding- 
houses of the French Quarter, but this I do not 
strongly advise, as I am inclined to believe that to 
one of American habits the exterior of the French 
Quarter is more delightful than the interior. How- 
ever, there are clean, quaint boarding-houses in the 
old section to which one may go if he can find one 
without too much searching. 

There has been some gossip of New Orleans as 
a breeding place for sub-tropical or tropical plagues, 
which we heard much more of ten years ago than 
to-day. The city has had its epidemics of yellow 
fever, yet strange as it may seem I hazard the 
assertion that there is no place in the United States 
to-day less apt to be visited by some dreadful 
scourge of sickness than New Orleans. A city on 
guard is a city that is not apt to be surprised by an 
enemy. And New Orleans has had to place itself 
in an attitude of defence. About the beginning of 
this century new water works and a complete new 
system of sewerage were commenced in the ancient 
city, and both are now complete. These new ad- 
juncts have been most carefully devised by compe- 
8 113 



WINTER JOURNEYS 

tent engineers, immense sums of money have been 
spent in constructing them, and it is not too much 
to say that New Orleans is now one of the best- 
drained and cleanest cities in the United States. 

So vigorous a fight has been waged against the 
mosquito, — a notable germ-carrier, — by the city 
authorities, that even the cisterns in the yards, or the 
mouths of the rain-spouts where water might collect 
and give breeding places for these insects, have been 
screened by order of the authorities. If one does 
not comply with the instructions to so screen re- 
ceptacles and open places, he is liable to a heavy 
fine which is inexorably imposed and collected. 

The visitor to New Orleans from the North, or 
from almost any other section for that matter, will 
be particularly struck by how flat the city is. There 
is not the difl'erence of one foot in elevation in any 
two parts of the city, no matter how widely sepa- 
rated. During my winter residence there I used 
frequently to walk to the Lee Monument on St. 
Charles avenue, as here there was an artificial hill of 
about twenty feet height and of about one hundred 
feet circumference. I would look longingly at 

this green mound because it was the only hill in 
114 



THE OLD IN NEW ORLEANS 

New Orleans, and it reminded me of home. Indeed, 
all Louisiana is flat. I used to read glowing de- 

\ scriptions of various points around New Orleans 
recommended as summer resorts, and these descrip- 
tions would very generally end up with the inscrip- 

, tion printed in large type, or heavily underscored, 
" Elevation above the level of the sea five feet! '* 
I believe one day I read of a place that had an 

■ elevation of fifteen feet above the level of the sea. 
This was an occasion for a celebration! At such 

\ delirious heights people might rise to almost any 

f feat of high endeavor. 

Another thing that is apt to strike the visitor is 
the levee. One's first sight of the levee is an unfor- 
gettable experience, and the word itself has an 
intrinsic meaning for every New Orleans man or 
woman. " The Levee " — how often have they heard 
of it holding or breaking beneath the weight of the 
waters? How often has their existence depended 
upon its strength? My first visit to the levee was 
at twilight. I walked to the end of the street which 
led to the water (and I am now in the residence 
section of the city). There towered before me a 
great mound of earth that somehow made me think 

115 



WINTER JOURNEYS 

of the Pyramids, possibly because of the thought of 
all of the human labor that had gone into the mak- 
ing of it. I ascended a long incline in the half light 
of evening, and at last reaching the top, suddenly 
there came to my view the muddy waters of the 
Mississippi, almost at my feet. The city lay back 
of me, far beneath the level of the mighty river upon 
whose brink I stood. It seemed so easy for the 
river to dash away the barrier of earth, imposing as 
that had seemed a few moments ago. Yet the levee 
has been strengthened from year to year, and it is 
doubtful whether there will ever again be a serious 
break in the limits of the city. 

The levee in the shipping and business section 
is quite a different sight from above. Here it is 
lined with wharves and docks. And the typical 
Mississippi river steamboats may be found tied 
alongside. 

These steamboats are quite a sight, indeed, to 
one accustomed to the staid vessels of the northern 
rivers. They have two smoke-stacks set flamboy- 
antly across the boat instead of following each other 
decorously one after the other, as is the ordinary 

custom. In the stern they have an enormous paddle 
116 



THE OLD IN NEW ORLEANS 

wheel as wide as the boat. The smoke stacks are 
very high and from the top flutter slender pennants. 
When the boat is in motion a walking beam gyrates 
between these stacks. Most of the boats have siren 
whistles which they call into play very frequently 
during their course up the river. 

A characteristic spectacle of the New Orleans 
docks is the stevedores. Husky black men with 
apparently not a care in the world, they whistle and 
sing as they shoulder enormous burdens and carry 
them lightly into the black holds of vessels. Or 
they trundle massive trucks with the lightness and 
deftness of a French maid handling a baby carriage. 
Their songs have without doubt a true musical 
impulse. The men maintain a weird sort of rhythm 
and a long chanting refrain that is very distinctive, 
indeed. 

The words of these songs seem to matter very 
little, but into the whines, themselves, which make 
them up the negro seems to put his whole soul. 

I spoke some paragraphs back of the " mighty " 

Mississippi river. The river is a mighty river but 

one's first glimpse of it at New Orleans is rather a 

disappointment. One is prepared to find a stream 

117 



WINTER JOURNEYS 

which is so wide that one can hardly see across it. 
iWe have heard these romantic word pictures of the 
Mississippi since childhood. On the contrary the 
river is rather narrow at New Orleans, and one can 
not only see across the stream but one can almost 
distinguish the names of vessels on the other side. 
It needs some reflection and some tuition in the facts 
that the river is ninety feet or more deep here, and 
that its current is so swift that if one jumps off a 
ferryboat on the way across, it is almost impossible 
to rescue one or find his body, to make one realize 
the volume of this greatest of American rivers and 
to restore it to its old place in one's imagination. 

That which the ordinary visitor most closely 
associates with New Orleans, and its greatest adver- 
tising factor, is, no doubt, the Mardi Gras. While 
this is an advertising factor of first importance to 
New Orleans, it is a debatable point whether it is 
an advertisement of the proper character. No 
doubt the Mardi Gras draws many people to the 
city for a brief stay every year, but it concentrates 
the average outsider's attention upon just one 
theme of the city's activity, and does not emphasize 
its real enduring charms. To me, personally, the 
118 




A TYPK Al, SIDE STREf:T IV KUEXCH NEW ORLEANS 



THE OLD IN NEW ORLEANS 

Mardi Gras was not the most conspicuous of 
the pleasures which I derived from my stay- 
in New Orleans. I would not go back to the city 
simply to see the Mardi Gras ; but I would go back 
again just for the pure sensuous pleasure of its 
balmy days and nights, its pleasant people, and 
the quaint pervasive flavor of its old French sec- 
tion. These things I consider New Orleans' great- 
est assets. 

The Mardi Gras, to give a few words of ex- 
planation of this period of festivity, occupies alto- 
gether about one week culminating in a grand racket 
Shrove Tuesday, which is the eve of Ash Wednes- 
day, the beginning of the Lenten season. Strictly 
speaking only Shrove Tuesday is Mardi Gras. The 
rest of this time is the *' Carnival." As a matter of 
fact, however, the whole period goes under name of 
Mardi Gras. 

The general scheme of the thing began in 1837 
when New Orleans held its first street procession. 
Immense sums of money are spent both by the city 
and by individuals every year in the affair. There 
is a general committee of arrangements and then 

there are six or more subsidiary organizations of 

119 



WINTER JOURNEYS 

various degrees of merit. There is the Krewe of 
Comus, the Krewe of Momus, the Krewe of Pro- 
teus, the Krewe of Nereus. Each one of these 
organizations has a parade and ball on one of the 
days of the Carnival week. And the securing of 
invitations to these balls is a matter of heart-burn- 
ing and planning and care to many New Orleans 
matrons from one year's end to another. The invi- 
tations are not entrusted to the mail but are de- 
livered by hand by special messengers. The most 
select of the balls are supposed to be those of Comus 
and Momus, but a bred and bom New Orleans 
girl is glad to have an invitation to any one of them. 
It is much easier for strangers to secure invitations 
to these balls than for New Orleans people them- 
selves, but for that matter it is human nature to 
be kinder to strangers than to those immediately 
at hand. 

Mardi Gras day, itself, the final day of the cele- 
bration, is a public holiday, and pandemonium seems 
to be let loose in the streets. Canal street, the princi- 
pal thoroughfare of the city, an immensely broad 
thoroughfare down which five car tracks run, is com- 
pletely given over to revelry from early morn till 
120 



THE OLD IN NEW ORLEANS 

late in the evening. The street cars are prohibited 
from the street on this day. Most remarkable cos- 
tumes and masks are seen. I have beheld women 
in tights, men in armor, though the day was hot, 
and almost anything that Fancy can suggest or 
Ingenuity perform. 

In this brief sketch of a city which I am very 
fond of I have said nothing of the beautiful girls, — 
the woman life, generally, which flourishes here most 
luxuriantly! It is the popular opinion that every 
beautiful girl in New Orleans is a " Creole," if we 
many believe romantic fiction, but of course this 
is not true, though there are many beautiful 
" Creoles " there. 

A Creole is a mixture of French and Indian, or 
French and Spanish, or of all three. Despite a very 
odious and very erroneous popular impression to 
the contrary, there is no touch of negro blood in the 
Creole. 

The Creole girls mature quickly, so that it is no 

uncommon sight to see such an one of seventeen 

or eighteen years with the figure and manners of a 

woman of twenty-eight or thirty of the Northern 

climate. They are lively, vivid in color and when of 

121 



WINTER JOURNEYS 

the best type very lovely. It is the sight of this 
dark beauty in old New Orleans that gives one 
foreign touch to the city. 

The restaurants and eating houses of New 
Orleans are famous, and deservedly sol The typi- 
cal New Orleans restaurant is a bare room with 
pine tables and a sanded or saw-dusted floor. Not 
much for looks are they, but the food they serve is 
most delicious. Old Antoine's, indeed, has a repu- 
tation for quality even in far Paris; at the Cafe la 
Louisanne one may get Bouillabaisse that reminds 
the epicure of Marseilles. A favorite baker's con- 
fection in the homes of the city is the " brioche," a 
sort of a roll made with a flavor of orange flowers 
and bay leaves. At least that is the way that I am 
told it is made. I would not attempt to make one 
myself. It has a slightly yellow color, an aromatic 
odor, a refreshing taste, and is especially good with 
coffee in the early morning. 

Altogether, if one wishes to spend a winter at 

one spot. New Orleans can probably furnish a 

greater variety of sensations and a more pleasant 

climate than any other point in the eastern southern 

United States. 
122 



THE OLD IN NEW ORLEANS 

The French ceded Louisiana to the United 
States in 1803. This was done by Napoleon as a 
stroke against the Enghsh, his idea being to con- 
centrate his forces in his own country and to help 
raise up a vigorous enemy against England in the 
New World. In December, 1803, the forces of the 
new republic took over the government of New 
Orleans and the new territory. 



WHERE IS WHAT IN SAVANNAH 



WHERE IS WHAT IN SAVANNAH 

IT would be possible for me to count up the 
number of visits that I have made to Savan- 
nah, but it would take me some time, and 
would cause me much thought to accomplish this 
end. I first went to Savannah because I had 
nowhere else to go, and was tired of where I was. 
Now whenever I feel jaded or run down my first 
thought is of this soothing old Southern city. There 
is a balminess in the atmosphere of Savannah, there 
is a repose in its broad shaded streets, that is more 
relaxing to tangled nerves than the medicaments of 
many famous physicians. 

And yet Savannah is a large city as the term is 
used nowadays. Its broad wharves teem with com- 
merce and its business men get up early and " stay 
on the job " late. The city contains more imposing 
modern business and public structures than any 
other in the South except Atlanta. 

The ideal way to approach Savannah, I verily 
believe, is by water, except that in this case the two 
or three days sail from New York, Philadelphia, or 

127 



WINTER JOURNEYS 

Baltimore, that is necessary to reach the city by one 
of the important steamship lines, is rather tiring to 
some travellers. For by this means one sees the 
city in its most characteristic aspect. One enters 
the Savannah river usually about daybreak, and 
then proceeds on up this broad and winding stream, 
through bright green meadows in a misty gleam of 
sunshine beneath a sky that is just beginning to 
change silky white for blue. The dome of the city 
hall shines brightly in the early light of the morn- 
ing, and a light mist is just rising from the river. 
It is thus that I saw Savannah first, and it is thus 
that I like to approach it always. 

It is pleasant to sail away from the city in the 
evening when sunset holds the stage. Is there a 
more beautiful sight than the marsh lands in a long, 
oblique light? One goes out past old Fort Pulaski, 
near where the waving girl waves farewell to the 
traveller. This girl has shaken her handkerchief at 
every large steamer that has come in or gone out of 
Savannah harbor in thirty years. Her husband was 
a sailor who was lost at sea, and always she looks 
for his return. Then one goes past Tybee, over the 

bar, into the sea. 
128 



WHAT IN SAVANNAH 

There are several good hotels in Savannah, and 
many good stopping places of more informal na- 
ture. During my visits I have almost always 
stopped at the Hotel De Soto because I found that 
good the jfirst time; and because it is one of 
the best of the Savannah houses. The Savannah 
Hotel I also know is good. One of the prettiest 
seasons of the year to visit Savannah is the early 
spring. The streets are then filled with the blooms 
of altheas and azaleas. 

Savannah's streets are one of her chief beauties. 
Bull street, the most important highway in the 
city, is one long succession of public parks. It 
is rather trying for the man in the automobile 
who has to wind around one of these open 
spaces every two blocks. But for the stroller it has 
much charm. Bull street is typical of the ma- 
jority of Savannah's avenues. They are broad, 
well-paved, well-planted, with an open space 
in the middle, and are, altogether, a model for 
any municipality. 

In the immediate vicinity of the city are many 
interesting points to visit. And the roads here- 
about are so good that it is pleasure to run over 
9 129 



WINTER JOURNEYS 

them. They are used annually for the famous Grand 
Prize auto races to which the whole country turns 
out. About four and a half miles from the center 
of the city, on a bluff overlooking a branch of the 
Savannah river, is Thunderbolt, a suburban pleas- 
ure park that is worth a visit. The Savannah Yacht 
Club and the Motorboat Club have their houses 
here. In the immediate vicinity are many smaller 
fishing, boating, and yachting organizations, most 
of which make up their membership from northern 
cities. 

Not far from the city is the " Hermitage '* 
plantation, a very beautiful survival of the " befo' 
de wa' " style of building. The place is distin- 
guished by a mile long avenue of live oak trees 
which leads from the public road to the front door. 
The house, itself, is interesting from the architect's 
stand-point because of its fine proportions and good 
style, and it is large in size. Of course the usual 
tales of duels and other romantic encounters are 
told of the " Hermitage." One may believe these 
or not as he likes, but they do not detract from the 
pleasure of a visit to the place. Immediately 

adjoining the " big lot " are the slave quarters, a 
130 




A CHARAfTERISTIC SAVANNAH HOME 




i\ A SI1>1'. ^iUl.l.l 



WHAT IN SAVANNAH 

long line of low brick hovels, not without their 
picturesque quality, but looking more like habi- 
tations for pigs than for human beings of any 
color or condition of servitude. The place is ac- 
cessible from Savannah by trolley, and let one 
be sure that he has his directions straight before 
leaving the hotel, for no man that he meets on 
the street will be able to tell him where it is. 
Few people ever do know the city in which they 
live, and Savannah's citizens seem to be no ex- 
ception to the rule. 

In the city itself there are various points which 
the visitor will find out best by browsing around 
and asking "fool questions." Chief among these 
to me are the City Hall dome, from which one 
gains a splendid view of the city and the sur- 
rounding flat country; the Telfair Academy of 
Fine Arts and Sciences, a fairly new institution 
that already has the germs of a fine collection of 
modern paintings. 

But the great charm of Savannah, the city, is in 
the charming, informal, little walks that one may 
find in any direction from his hotel. Its side streets 
are always interesting with the quaint, twisted, old- 

131 



WINTER JOURNEYS 

time iron work, and the characterful and colorful 
bits of domestic architecture which Time has worked 
over so as to bring out all of their decorative 
qualities. 

One favorite walk is down along the water front, 
or as close to the water front as one can get. The 
old ship factors' buildings here, with their dirty, 
dingy fronts, are racy of the sea and filled with 
interest to anyone who likes the flavor of strange 
and almost forgotten ways of life. 

As an ancient and historic city Savannah will 

have much to charm the lover of the antique and 

the reader of history. Methodists will find much of 

special interest to themselves in the fact that the 

city was the scene of early labors of John and 

' Charles Wesley. John Wesley himself has written : 

" The first step in the rise of Methodism was in 

1729, when four of us met together at Oxford. 

The second was in Savannah in 1736, when twenty 

or thirty persons met at my house. The last 

was in London on this day. May 1, 1738, when 

forty or fifty of us agreed to meet together every 

Wednesday." 

I In this city Wesley established a Sunday school 
132 



WHAT IN SAVANNAH 

; fifty years before Robert Raikes began his system 
of Sunday instruction in England, which was the 
i model on which subsequent Sunday schools have 
.grown up. Wesley was at this time a Church of 
; England missionary. He came to Savannah to 
succeed the Rev. Samuel Quincy, and had been 
appointed by the Society for Propagating the Gos- 
pel in Foreign Parts. 

The Sunday school begun by Wesley was con- 
tinued by Whitefield and has been carried on to the 
present day. 

The Revolution and the Civil War each left 
their scars on Savannah. 

Most of all, perhaps, I like in Savannah the 
flavor of the sea from which it was born, and the 
leisure of its days. And whenever I feel attuned 
to that mood there are in the old city numberless 
voices from the Past which speak to me and lead 
me back through pleasant ways of Time. 



AUGUST AUGUSTA 



AUGUST AUGUSTA 

IT is difficult at once to define the charm of 
Augusta, Georgia. One goes from a city in 
the North, — say New York, — to a point in the 
South, and steps merely from one urban atmosphere 
into another. He is surrounded by the sights and 
sounds of a city, though a small one, despite his 
long travel. Perhaps, however, that is the charm 
of Augusta. There is no tiresome process of re- 
adjustment. One simply goes from a life of care 
and grind and business work to an atmosphere of 
leisure and repose. One has all of the conveniences 
of a city around him, but is free from the cares of 
business. 

Augusta, the capital of Georgia, is a city of 
about 40,000 inhabitants. It has broad, well-paved 
streets, trolley cars, trust companies, telephones, 
steam, light, power, heat, and all the other appur- 
tenances of a modem city. To judge from the lit- 
erature of its Chamber of Commerce, it is progres- 
sive, wide-awake, and thoroughly determined to be 

always full of *' pep." It has a publicity committee, 

137 



WINTER JOURNEYS 

a get-up-and-get committee, a we-are-hot-stuff com- 
mittee and all of the other fixtures of boosting and 
pushing which modern American cities deem essen- 
tial to their progress in the universe. The people of 
Augusta are " forward lookers." With all of this 
the casual visitor has no concern. 

What does concern the casual visitor are the de- 
lights of the climate, the variety of the country 
roundabout, and the charm which accompanies a 
well-established social life. The weather in Augusta 
is sometimes cold, when crisp snappy days come that 
are not excelled by New York, Boston, or elsewhere 
in the North. But these occasional visitations do not 
last long. The average temperature of Augusta 
through the winter is about fifty to sixty degrees. 
And the air, since the city lies at an elevation of 
about six hundred feet above the sea, is dry and 
refreshing. The days are almost uniformly clear 
though occasionally there come days when there is a 
drenching downpour. And, my! how it does rain 
in Augusta when it does rain! These days are far 
apart and rarely follow each other in melancholy 

succession. 
138 



AUGUST AUGUSTA 

It is well to recall that Augusta as a winter 
resort is one of the oldest places in the South. For 
forty years or more its balmy air has drawn visitors 
during the cold season from all parts of the country. 
It is strange how these resorts seem to gain at length 
their clientele from one particular locality. New 
England, for instance, has a very large representa- 
tion in Pinehurst and at Ormond on the Halifax. 
In Augusta the New York or Manhattan, — using 
this term in its best sense, — atmosphere seems to 
be predominant. 

A drive through the residence section of Augusta, 
which lies adjacent to the Hotel Bon Air, will 
reveal to one how very well grown, indeed, is 
the city as a winter resort. One drives through 
/block after block of beautiful homes. The winter 
' colony of Augusta no doubt numbers ten thousand 
people. The prevailing type of architecture is of 
that style which was developed in the South imme- 
diately before the Civil War, Georgian in tone but 
embellished with wide verandas, and many white 
pillars, and iron trellis work with vines growing 
over it. Many of the houses, indeed, are survivals 

of Augusta's period of prosperity before the War, 

139 



WINTER JOURNEYS 

when rich planters made this place and these homes 
their stopping-place during " the season." 

The social life of Augusta is, as I have sug- 
gested, very well organized, and includes the usual 
round of calls, teas, receptions, dinners, and other 
functions of polite society. Most of the recreation 
of the little colony is taken at the Augusta Country 
Club, where golf is almost the sole outdoor diver- 
sion. There are tennis courts, but these are not 
used a great deal. The Augusta Country Club has 
a most commodious, modern home which possesses 
reception rooms, billiard rooms, a cafe where meals 
may be obtained a la carte, and other appointments 
of a well-maintained institution of this character. 
It is only moderately large, but as a matter of fact 
very little of the time of the club members is spent 
in the house, but most of it out on the links. 

The Augusta golf links are one of the city's 
great assets for visitors. There are now two 
courses, the new, or Hill course, having a playing 
distance of 6165 yards; the old, or Lake course, has 
a playing distance of 5900 yards. In each of these 
courses the holes are of good length, and, without 
being too trying to ordinary skill, offer problems 
140 







I * If W'-M 




TYPIt AL (ILIJ AltUSIA HUMKSTEAU 




Tin; Al t.l STA (OlNTIiY (LUU 



AUGUST AUGUSTA 

which stir one's faculties to correctly solve. They 
are spreiad out over a rolling country giving charm- 
ing prospects and vistas at many points. 

One of the most beautiful golf holes in the 
South is undoubtedly the fifteen hole of the Lake 
course. One approaches the green down hill ; there 
is a sort of a natural bowl here set on one side with a 
fringe of trees on the lower edge. One plays into 
this bowl over a smooth grass. The accessories are 
simple, indeed, but the whole effect is very delight- 
ful. The scenic features of this spot have made it a 
famous lounging place for ladies who gather here 
in the afternoon to do their sewing, to gossip, and 
to watch the golfers in their white suits come over 
the green crest of the hill into this shady retreat. 

The tournament events of the Augusta Country 
Club links include some fixtures quite as well known 
as these links themselves. In February there is 
the Open Tournament for Amateurs and Profes- 
sionals; then come the Frick Cup Tournament; 
the Bon Air Cup Tournament ; the President's Cup 
Tournament; and the Amateur Open Champion- 
ship of the club, which is the crowning event of the 
season. In addition to these there are many minor 

141 



WINTER JOURNEYS 

events which draw out large numbers of golfing 
enthusiasts. 

The visitor to Augusta from the North may 
reach this -delightful Southern city by Atlantic Coast 
Line train leaving New York at 9.15 a.m. daily, 
and reaching Augusta at 8.55 a.m. the following 
day; or by Southern train leaving at 1.08 p.m. 
daily, and arriving at Augusta at 1.15 p.m. the 
following day. Each of these trains is good. One 
may also approach the city from Charleston, where- 
by he has a tiresome trip ; or from Atlanta, a very 
direct route to the visitor from the South; or from 
Cincinnati by way of Asheville on the " Carolina 
Special," one of the Southern's crack trains. 

While there are many hotels and boarding- 
houses in Augusta the man not on business bound 
will probably find his comfort best conserved in one 
of the three following houses : the Bon Air, Hamp- 
ton Terrace, and the Partridge Inn. The first two 
of this trio have the same rating. Partridge Inn is 
a somewhat smaller house but excellent in every 
essential. The Bon Air and Partridge are on the 
west side of the river, Hampton Terrace is on the 
east side, and there is some rivalry between the east 
142 



AUGUST AUGUSTA 

and west sides. The Terrace is the newest of the 
large Augusta houses. 

There are some hotels that have conducted so 
long and so successful a course in life, and have 
catered so consistently to one class of people, that 
they have acquired a real individuality and real 
traditions of their own. Of this class are the Ponce 
de Leon in St. Augustine, the Holland House in 
New York, or Lake Mohonk Mountain House in 
the foot-hills of the Catskills. Of this class also is 
the Bon Air, and Hfe in this famous old hostelry is 
well worth a few minutes' study. 

The Bon Air was commenced in the fall of 1889, 
and was opened December 1, of that year. During 
the greater portion of its existence it has been under 
the management of Mr. C. G. Trussell, who is, 
himself, a landmark of Augusta's progress as a 
winter resort. The Bon Air was established in 
recognition of the growing importance of this south- 
ern city as a winter stopping place. The house has 
been added to from year to year as the demand for 
its rooms has increased, but even now with its pres- 
ent commanding proportions it is not able to accom- 
modate all of the people who wish to partake of its 

143 



WINTER JOURNEYS 

hospitality. The location of the establishment on 
a hill overlooking the city gives one a pleasing view 
from its sunny morning rooms, while at the same 
time it makes the drive from the station rather a 
long one. 

One of the features peculiar to the Bon Air is 
the social atmosphere of its lobby in the evening. 
The lobby is itself a rather old-fashioned apart- 
ment, finished in oak, and with many pillars to 
obstruct the view. Around these pillars, however, 
little groups of guests form, have coffee served to 
them, and smoke and chat very happily through 
the evening. Everybody seems to know everybody 
else, and if there be a presentable stranger present 
he is taken up and introduced to these contented, 
jolly little groups. It is no uncommon sight to see 
strangers escorted from one human island to an- 
other in the lobby, being made known and being 
made welcome, meanwhile undergoing a kindly but 
rigorous scrutiny. 

Card playing is one of the favorite amusements, 
and the old-fashioned occupation of knitting finds 
many devotees amongst the older matrons. 

The dining-room of the Bon Air is a large and 
144 



AUGUST AUGUSTA 

not especially handsome apartment. It has, how- 
ever, one of the real, genuine, old-time hand-made 
English butler head-waiters and this gives a point 
of interest to the room that would make up for 
many lacks. There are two classes of men who 
seem to have it in their power to make their fellow- 
beings miserable. One of these classes includes 
head-waiters; the second, ushers in churches. The 
first estimates your temporal, the second your spirit- 
ual poverty. In either case one is not at ease. The 
first puts you where a draught blows on you or a 
waiter runs into you, or something like that; the 
second sticks you back of a pillar in some corner 
where you can neither see the minister nor go to 
sleep. However, the head-waiter at the Bon Air 
has a kind heart, and, having it in his power to do 
so, often exalts you by giving you undoubtedly the 
best place at his disposal. 



10 



THAT WELL-KNOWN AIKEN 



THAT WELL-KNOWN AIKEN 

WHILE Aiken makes a great "splash'* 
in the Sunday papers, it is by no 
means a " splashy " place in itself. 
Aiken, the winter resort, is solely and simply a 
colony of people of wealth who know how to live 
comfortably, and would prefer to do so without os- 
tentation, if the Sunday papers would let them. 
Aiken, the town around which this colony has 
grown, has become quite conscious of its impor- 
tance, has a Chamber of Commerce and a few other 
bodies of " push," and is filled with all manner of 
self-assertion. 

To take up our sketch of Aiken, the winter 
colony: there is more of the home atmosphere and 
less of the hotel atmosphere here than in any other 
resort center in the South. Hotel life is the least 
important aspect of the life at Aiken. There is the 
new Highland Park Hotel, a thoroughly modern 
and very delightful small house, under the manage- 
ment of J. J. Sweeney; there is the famous Will- 
cock's, a sort of combination of old time tavern, 

149 



WINTER JOURNEYS 

modern hotel, and country club ; and there are vari- 
ous boarding-houses, large and small. The country 
club atmosphere is very evident in the dominant 
two of Aiken's hostelries. The desk in the New 
Highland Park is the least conspicuous part of the 
lobby. It is a mere little corner of the room in 
which the manager can, occasionally, be found. A 
large open fire is kept burning here during brisk 
days ; comfortable nests of chairs are arranged here 
and there in the room ; and the whole enclosure has 
a very home-like and attractive atmosphere. 

Aiken, the winter colony, is essentially a congre- 
gation of large domestic establishments with much 
ground around each one. The whole area covered 
by this colony would measure thirty or forty square 
miles. It very much resembles Newport in this 
phase, and the list of the names of the holders of 
the fine places is almost identical with a list of the 
names of these who have built the colony of fine 
summer homes around the quaint New England 
city, (it is a colony of Americans of wealth who 
have had several generations in which to wear off 
some of the soil which the founder of the family 
carried with him. 
150 







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WELL-KNOWN AIKEN 

The social life of Aiken is organized as that in 
any other polite rural district. There are calls and 
dinners and teas. The center of activity is the coun- 
try club, which is the famous Palmetto Golf Club. 

The Palmetto Golf Club has an eighteen hole 
course and a very good one at that, — tennis courts 
and all of the other appurtenances of a country 
club. It is also very strict as to who shall be en- 
tertained within its confines. A New York news- 
paper photographer at one time, I was told, suc- 
ceeded in entering the precincts and snap-shotting 
some of the members engaged in perfectly common- 
place pastimes. He was discovered while at this 
futile business, his camera was destroyed, and he, 
himself, it is said, was rudely handled. From this 
episode the New York papers learned that the 
people of AJken did not care to appear in the 
Sunday papers, but this fact did not prevent them 
trying to obtain such pictures nevertheless. 

One of the favorite sports at Aiken is polo. 

There are ten polo teams in this little place and 

there are two polo fields. 

Things to do with horses, generally, are given 

151 



WINTER JOURNEYS 

great stress in the life of the place. Horseback 
riding is one of the favorite occupations. 

The roads are good and the rides in and around 
Aiken are, indeed, most delightful in this hilly, roll- 
ing country. With its elevation of six hundred 
feet above the sea one finds it is a pure joy through 
most of the winter just to be out in the air. When 
one adds to this atmosphere the leisurely, easy gait 
of a good horse, with the possibility of a spanking 
gallop when the air is brisk, and surround it all 
with the odor of the long-leaf pine, it is not difficult 
to explain why it is that horseback riding here is 
so popular. 

One of the most beautiful drives around Aiken 
is the famous Whitney drive. This leads past Sand 
river, a dried-up stream which has much local inter- 
est, by the Devil's Back-bone and other points. 
Automobiles are not permitted on the Wliitney 
drive. 

Very recently the post road from Edgefield to 
the Barnwell county line has been completed at 
county and federal government expense. This 
thoroughfare leads past fine plantations and gives a 

good general idea of the country. There are also 

152 



WELL-KNOWN AIKEN 

drives to the Palmetto Farms, and the Vale of 
Montmorenci. These names may not mean much 
intrinsically to one who has not been to Aiken, yet 
the flavor of the words may carry a hint of the 
place. 

The railway approach to Aiken is not beautiful, 
as, indeed, what station approaches are beautiful? 
But the casual visitor who goes on into the little 
town, walks down the tree-bordered main street, 
and allows the leisureliness of the city, and the re- 
laxing, soothing, pine air to affect him, will soon 
understand the charm of the locality. A few min- 
utes' walking or driving will then bring him into the 
district in which Aiken's beautiful homes are, and 
he will need no further ocular demonstration of the 
charm of the place. 

Among the most beautiful of Aiken's homes are 
those of Mr. Thomas Hitchcock, Mr. W. K. Van- 
derbilt, Col. Anthony R. Kuser, C. Oliver Iselin, 
and of Mr. Payne Whitney, though this does not 
by any means exhaust the list of notable residence 
properties. 

Aiken has long been a favorite haunt with liter- 
ary men and musicians. 

153 



WINTER JOURNEYS 

The little community is best approached by 
Southern railway direct. One may, however, go 
first to Augusta, which is only thirty miles away, and 
thence to Aiken by private conveyance or local 
railway. 

The place is well worth a visit. Whether one 
knows the people there or not, if he cares for quiet 
and comfort and good living he will find it here at 
reasonable rates. 



LONG SQUARES AND LONG 
YEARS IN CAMDEN 



LONG SQUARES AND LONG YEARS IN 
CAMDEN 

THE " Old South " has been clearly de- 
fined by sentimental historians and in 
works of popular fiction. There is no 
use fighting a tradition so well established. It is as 
firmly fixed as the idea that all " Down East " 
Northerners have long legs, constantly chew tobacco, 
and sell wooden nutmegs. According to this 
definition the " Old South " is a place of perpetual 
sunshine, large, blooming, fresh-hued flowers, a 
balmy atmosphere, gardens, quaint walks, hedges, 
big white houses embowered, and leisurely men to 
talk in a lazy accent somewhat resembling a cross 
between a coon song and a man too tired to speak. 

It is a pleasing conception. Must be or it would 
not have lasted this long. However, in Camden, 
South Carolina, one may find more of the atmos- 
phere of the " Old South " than in any other place 
in the Southern states that I know. 

To walk through Camden's dreaming streets is 
a lesson in repose. To idle away the time in its 

157 



WINTER JOURNEYS 

I drowsy gardens will teach one the song of the birds. 
Its people are really delightful, its houses white and 
embowered, its sunshine and mellow air a constant 
sensuous delight. 

The visitor to Camden may arrive by the Sea- 
board Air Line Railway, by the Southern, or by 
the Atlantic Coast Line, through connection. He 
may put up at the Kirkwood, the Court Inn, the 
Hobkirk Inn or one of the smaller houses or board- 
ing places of the little community. In any one of 
them he will find comfort. I will not play favor- 
ites; for my part I have stopped at the Kirkwood 
and I have put up at the Court Inn. In either 
place one will find first class accommodations. The 
Kirkwood is possibly the more modern of these two 
houses, and the larger; the Court Inn is distin- 
guished by its beautiful old garden which its owner, 
Mr. Caleb Ticknor, cultivated through many years. 

There is a story back of the Court Inn which is 
worth telling. Originally the place was the home 
of the de Saussure family. Then the fortunes of 
this circle of fine folk declined, and the house was 
sold. Eventually it came into its present hands, 
and was made into a hotel. When the hotel people 
158 




A KKMIXOEU OF CAMDEN 




CHARACTERISTIC CAMDEN Hi iM 1.^ I I. A l< 



IN CAMDEN 

took over the property the garden was in an abject 
condition, but patiently and discerningly and with 
care it was restored, until now it is undoubtedly one 
of the minor beauty spots of the South. The long 
yew walk in the garden is quite famous, and is 
worth a visit in itself to see. It extends for about 
two hundred yards straight, and is eight or nine 
feet wide, arched over with the crooked branches of 
this peculiar wood. At one end is a white statue, 
and the walk through the long, woody tunnel on a 
sunny day, with the light and shadows playing 
strange tricks in the branches, is enchanting. 

The Kirkwood has a very excellent situation on 
one of the few heights of the town, and overlooks a 
golf course which is part of the hotel property 
and very well maintained. Its manager, Mr. T. 
Edmund Krumbholz, is a man of progressive ideas 
and one who is keen for the comfort of his guests. 

Most of the golf of Camden is played in the 
Sarsfield Golf Club, where a very beautiful course 
is maintained. The large number of winter visitors 
in this city, not to speak of the number of perma- 
nent residents, make possible a flourishing condi- 
tion of the finances of the club, and a corresponding 

159 



WINTER JOURNEYS 

good maintenance of the golf course. Tourna- 
ments at different times through the year attract 
many players. 

The first thing that will strike a visitor to Cam- 
den as uncommon is the length of the squares. 
Nowhere in this wide country do I believe, except 
maybe on the desert in a gold town laid out by a 
tipsy miner, are such long city blocks. They are 
i of two sizes. The smaller is only 880 feet long I 
The larger is twice this size. If one tells you that a 
place is but two or three blocks away you must not 
be deceived; it means steady walking for ten or 
1 fifteen minutes, anyhow. 

Not least amongst the establishments, and 
one well worth continued support, is the Camden 
Hospital, an institution which under the direction 
of Drs. Jolm W. Corbett, J. C. Rowan, and W. M. 
Shannon, the Executive Conmiittee, has grown in 
a healthy and vigorous fashion and has done its 
work with a fine efficiency. It was founded by Mr. 
Baruch, a wealthy and generous former resident of 
Camden. 

A distinguishing feature of Camden is the per- 
manent winter colony that it has. By this I mean 
160 




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THE FA.MOl S [JOWEHEU WALK 



IN CAMDEN 

the number of people who go there every year, take 
houses and stay for four or five months. All this 
makes for a pleasant social atmosphere and a chance 
for the cultivation of the more enduring ties of 
friendship than is afforded by the usual winter 
resort. 

The historical restrospect of Camden is of inter- 
est. The little city is one of eleven townships on 
the rivers of South Carolina, founded by order of 
George II in 1730. James St. Julien was em- 
ployed for the sum of five hundred pounds to sur- 
vey a township on the Wateree river. This task he 
carried out in 1733 and 1734, laying off a township 
on the eastern side of the Wateree which he called 
Fredericksburg. 'An old plat of this foundation is 
to be found in the state records of South Carohna 
at Columbia. The town existed on paper for 
twenty-five years or more until Joseph Kershaw, in 
1758, established a store on a tract of 150 acres on a 
spot called Pine Tree Hill, which is now known as 
Magazine Hill, and is in the southeast corner of 
Camden. It was the site in later times ( but before 
this story) of the Comwallis House. In 1768 an 
Act of the Assembly of South Carolina speaks of 
11 161 



WINTER JOURNEYS 

the town as Camden, " lately called Pine Tree 
Hill." The naming is attributed to Kershaw and 
is conceived to have been a compliment to Lord 
Camden, who was so cordially admired by the colo- 
nists for his pleas in Parliament on their behalf. 

Years brought increase of population and 
wealth to Camden. Dm'ing the Revolution it was 
a very important place. 

The Battle of Camden, one of the sanguinary 
and decisive conflicts of the Revolution, was fought 
August 15, 1780, and during this engagement 
Baron de Kalb was killed. The body of de Kalb 
lies in Camden, and a monument commemorates his 
name and his deeds in the service of our republic. 

At a later period of the national history, 
Andrew Jackson, the famous, and his brother were 
prisoners in Camden, and here is said to have oc- 
curred that famous episode when little Andy Jack- 
son refused to black the British officer's boots and 
received a sword cut over the head in consequence. 

During the Civil War Sherman visited the city, 
and his visit was anticipated by converting the 
Town Hall into a hospital to save the building from 

destruction. The town records were conveyed for 
162 



IN CAMDEN 

safety into the country, but were captured by 
Sherman's men and destroyed. This excess of cau- 
tion is regretted by Camden men, as all records 
antedating 1843 are lost. February 24, 1865, a 
detachment of Sherman's men entered the town and 
fired many of the beautiful residences, including 
the famous Cornwallis house, — famous both for its 
own intrinsic charm and for the fact that it was the 
headquarters of that British leader during the 
Revolution. 

Visitors to Camden invariably notice the effigy 
of an Indian as a weather vane on the Opera House, 
and if they do not notice it themselves it is pointed 
out to them by some patriotic citizen. The figure 
has stood with bow and arrow ready for nearly a 
century, and is a statue of the Catawba chief, King 
Haiglar. It was cut from iron, stands five feet, 
one inch high, and is the handiwork of J. B. 
Mathieu, a craftsman who flourished in Camden 
between 1815 and 1834. This Indian has had an 
eventful history. In 1826 it was raised to the sum- 
mit of the market house steeple opposite the court 
house. There it stood until 1859. It was then up 

town until taken to its present location. Fortu- 

163 



WINTER JOURNEYS 

n&telj it escaped the destruction of the fire of 1892. 
The town clock is a contemporary of the Indian and 
has accompanied that warrior in his wanderings. 

There are many characterful little bits like this 
to pick up in Camden. While the days are long 
and lazy one will not lack for means of entertain- 
ment to make eren a long risit memorable. 



CHARLESTON, A QUIET 
PRESENT IN A NOISY PAST 



CHARLESTON, A QUIET PRESENT IN 
A NOISY PAST 

MANY times as I have been to Charles- 
ton, and much as I love its quiet peace, 
its balmy atmosphere, and its undis- 
turbed repose, I always feel that the Past of the 
place calls to me more loudly than the Present. 
Somewhere I have seen a yawn defined as a " si- 
lent scream," and I have seen yawns, themselves, 
which spoke shockingly of boredom and utter weari- 
ness. In the same way the past of Charleston seems 
to be fairly clamorous. It calls to you from all sides 
and will not be denied. The voices of Charleston's 
dead heroes and living heroic acts to the imagina- 
tive person rise to a mighty shout which overcomes 
all of the bustle of its Present. 

Perhaps the most noted of Charleston's memo- 
rials of the Past, and certainly the one of which the 
casual visitor first inquires, is Fort Sumter. To me 
Fort Sumter is the least interesting of all of 
Charleston's historic environs, least interesting, that 
is, in aspect. When I consider the mighty drama 

167 



WINTER JOURNEYS 

which was inaugurated in this humble-looking, in- 
conspicuous pile of rocks out in the harbor, I am 
awed by the thought of the immensity of the deeds 
which Fate hangs on such little pegs. The best 
i view of Fort Sumter is to be obtained from the 
{ Battery, as Charleston's sea front park is called. 
One may see Fort Sumter from the Battery about 
two or three miles away across the smooth expanse 
of Charleston harbor. It is merely a dot on the 
horizon with an angular derrick or gun arm show- 
ing up above it. How small are all human affairs 
against God's blue sky! 

The Battery, itself, is one of the pleasure places 
of the city to which the visitor inevitably gravitates. 
It is an expanse of about twenty blocks length, 
altogether, running around the point of the penin- 
sula formed by the Cooper and Ashley rivers, on 
which the city is situated. It is about one city 
square wide, and is planted with live oaks and other 
southern trees. Winding walks lead through the 
obscurity of these trees ; the planting and arrange- 
ment of the whole is thoroughly conventional. The 
great charm of the park is its situation, its unique 

view of the harbor, and the flood of warm sunshine 
168 




A GLIMPSE OF ST. MU HAKL's CHCRCH 



CHARLESTON 

• that seems to be its own peculiar possession. Along 
i the sea wall here is a pleasant promenade. 

Adjoining the Battery are many fine old-fash- 
ioned residences, and here a pleasant community of 
winter guests has taken root. 

Going up Main street from the Battery one 
passes many beautiful old homes, some of which are 
famous amongst architects for the purity and bril- 
liancy of their development. This was the old part 
of Charleston. The first settlement of the city was 
made down here in this point of the peninsula, and 
as the city grew it expanded northward. Tradd 
street. Meeting street, these names and others occur 
again and again in the annals of the locality. 

Continuing on up Main street one comes to St. 
Michael's church, another of the landmarks of 
Charleston, and one of the favorite points of visit 
to the casual guest of the city. St. Michael's is 
situated at the intersection of Charleston's most im- 
portant thoroughfares. It is a Georgian edifice with 
a very beautiful spire and was built about 1754. 
At the base of the spire are four clock faces, and 
the detail of this part of the structure is very fine, 
indeed. 



WINTER JOURNEYS 

Not far from St. Michael's is St. Philip's 
church, another of the historic churches of Charles- 
ton. Georgian in conception, and also distinguished 
by a beautiful spire, St. Philip's was built about 
the same time as St. Michael's. It is notable, more- 
over, for the beauty of the iron work which encir- 
cles the ground on which it stands. Adjoining the 
church is St. Philip's graveyard, in which rest many 
of Charleston's bravest and fairest. 
/ It was not until my second visit to Charleston 
that I discovered the deserted Planter's Hotel. I 
found then that others already knew about it and 
only my own density had kept me from making its 
acquaintance sooner. The Planter's Hotel is now 
one of my favorite points for prowling around and 
rooting out ghosts. I do believe that this place con- 
tains more ghosts than any other place in Charles- 
ton, which is not said boastfully but with a full 
realization of what this assertion means. 

In its day the Planter's Hotel was a very bril- 
liant congregating point for the rich plantation 
owners of South Carolina. Many a lively tale 
could the dismantled rooms tell if they could speak ! 
Unfortunately I am not able to act as interpreter 
170 



CHARLESTON 

and human data concerning the place are as always, 
not easily accessible, and are tangled when found.* 
The fa9ade of the house is remarkable for the 
beautiful iron trelhs work which supports the shal- 
low balconies. Passing through the front doors, one 
comes into the lobby, now in an indescribable state 

, of decay and confusion. On the upper floors fami- 
lies still live, as the old hotel in its last days has 

} become a tenement house. The abode of South 

I Carolina's pride and chivalry has become the shel- 
tering place for families of furtive foreigners who 

i peer at you from behind doors if you walk up the 

I stairs of the old building. 

The livery rates in Charleston are low, and one 
may be driven about for a long time in a rickety 
conveyance with a weak-but-willing horse without 
running up a staggering bill. I, myself, have a 
charioteer by name of Pete, of obscure but dusky 
origin, who is a perfect mine of the lore of the city. 
Nevertheless the trolleys are convenient and one 
may make a complete circuit of the city in one of 

/ * I now learn that an authoritative book on the whole subject of 

V i " The Dwelling Houses of Charleston " and those that occupied them 

I has been written by Miss Alice R. Huger Smith, a member of one 

I of the old families, and will be published by the Lippincott's in 1917. 

171 



WINTER JOURNEYS 

these bouncing, impetuous little cars, for the lordly 
payment of one car-fare. 

Not the least of the attractions of Charleston 
to the winter visitor is the fact that one may take 
many entrancing trips out of the city to points 
nearby. One may go up the Ashley or to the Navy 
Yard, which is well worth seeing, or to Sullivan's 
Island and the Isle of Palms. On the Ashley are 
to be seen old plantation homes, or the remains of 
those homes, and river expanses in semi-tropical 
foliage. 

It is probable that the average visitor will ap- 
proach the city by way of the railroads, but it is a 
very good destination for a sea trip from the north. 
One may leave New York by the Clyde line and 
have a pleasant coasting voyage here, a trip about 
as long as the passage to Bermuda and fully as en- 
joyable in its taste of sea air. 

There are several good hotels in the city and 
many comfortable boarding houses. 



FINDING ONE'S WAY IN 
SUMMERVILLE 



FINDING ONE'S WAY IN SUMMER- 
VILLE 

THE name first attracted me and so I went 
there. " Summerville," it has a pretty 
sound. I have been told, and no doubt 
this is true, that the planters of South Carolina had 
used the place as a summer resort in bygone years. 
The evidence of their occupation is seen in the many 
beautiful homes, and rambling, leisurely old frame 
houses which now abound in the town. But the rich 
northerner at last found it for his own for the win- 
ter months and took possession of it. " Summer- 
ville," the name still fitted. 

i And then it was so close to Charleston, — only 
thirty miles out. Charleston can be so easily reached 
by rail or boat. 

It was twilight when I reached Summerville 
and I walked out of the train straight into a region 
of somber green and vivid atmospheric gold. To 
begin with, Summerville might more appropriately 
be called Treeville because of the dense woods that 

make it up. Tall pine trees they are, with shaggy 

175 



n 



WINTER JOURNEYS 

trunks. It was here that I found my somber green 
and the gold of the air came from a gorgeous sun- 
set, whose flare in the west made a stately pageant 
of the tree-trunks. 

Apparently there is no order whatever in the 
arrangement of the town. One walks down a street, 
turns a comer and there he is, — lost. We entered 
a bus and made for the hotel. It seemed that we 
were making for no set point on the compass. The 
wagon rumbled softly over the earth, a glowing 
mist filled the west, and long shafts of light fell 
obliquely through the darkness, and, broken up by 
the pine needles at the crest of the trees, filtered 
down in a kind of a shimmer over the whole of our 
world. We turned comers incessantly and without 
any transparent purpose and at length, when con- 
vinced that we were merely rambling in fairyland, 
where Time had ceased to be, drew up with a clatter 
before the hotel. 

j The largest hotel in Summerville is the Pine 

' Forest Inn. There is a large number of boarding 

houses, many of which are quite large enough to 

rejoice in the name of hotel. The Pine Forest Inn 

is built as the name signifies in a forest of pines, and 

176 



IN SUMMERVILLE 

has a great deal of ground around it. The ground 
immediately surrounding the house has been devel- 
oped very tastefully with semi-tropical plants. The 
house, itself, is an old-fashioned house, but it pos- 
sesses many comforts. It is of frame construction. 
The interior reminds one of the interior of a ship, 
and this resemblance is made reasonable when one 
is told that the builder was Captain Waggener, of 
Charleston, a former ship captain and prominent 
importer of the present, who naturally incorporated 
in this pet project his love of the trim tidiness of a 
ship. 

It is the custom of the manager, Charles A. 
Weir, to meet incoming guests at the door of the 
hotel. He is a large man with hearty handclasp, 
and his endeavor is to make one feel at home. I 
do not know whether he meets every one, but I do 
know that he met me, and the ceremonies pertain- 
ing to this act were faintly amusing. I went to the 
desk and registered. The clerk behind the desk and 
Mr. Weir in front of the desk then looked me over. 
*' He wants a small room with a bath," said the 
latter speculatively having taken my measure. 
" How would number 720 do? " asked the clerk 
12 177 



WINTER JOURNEYS 

evidently agreeing with this estimate. Mr. Weir 
looked at me anew. " Let's give him Room 320," 
he suggested, " one of those rooms with a small, 
individual bath." 

I assured him that I preferred an individual 
bath, and spaciousness in the room within reason 
was no object with me. 

There was some consultation and then the clerk 
evidently came to the opinion of his superior about 
me, for I was given Room 320 and found myself 
very comfortably fixed. 

One pleasing feature of the Pine Forest Inn is 
the broad front porch with its outlook over the gar- 
den, from which comes a faint, pleasant aroma and 
soft airs. A homelike feature of the interior is the 
number of small rooms in which small parties may 
entertain themselves. Here in brisk weather open 
fires are kept burning, and they are very cosy, 
indeed, and favorite haunts for young people and 
card players. 

Not far from the hotel is a club which maintains 

a golf course of eighteen holes, and tennis courts. 

The golf course is well laid out and maintained, 

and attracts many. The face of the country is 

178 




SOME OF THE RUIXS OF "OLD DORCHESTER' 




A SUMMEKVILLE HIGHWAY 



IN SUMMERVILLE 

rather flat, but the abundance of vegetation pre- 
vents the course from being monotonous or unin- 
teresting. 

I have before said that there was no apparent 
order in the laying out of Summerville. I wish to 
add to this statement by saying that Summerville 
is the most rambling, most "unordered" place I have 
ever seen or ever hope to see. During one of my 
walks I encountered " Main " street five times and 
each time it pointed to a different direction, by the 

\ compass. If you ask an inhabitant of Summerville 
how to get anywhere he waves his arms vaguely, 

'< says " over there " and then hastily vanishes while 
you are looking in the direction in which he mo- 

I tioned. Go beyond the hotel grounds and walk 
for three minutes and I defy the most experienced 
woodsman not to be confused as to where the place 
was that he set out from. 

And yet this very condition gives a charm to the 
place. Assuredly, there is nothing mechanical or 
methodical about it. Moreover, there is not the 
shiftlessness that usually is found with a lack of 
method. Summerville is clean. All along the wind- 
ing street one comes upon neat, bright, nicely kept 

179 



WINTER JOURNEYS 

little houses. In front of each of these houses there 
is usually a flower patch filled with bright blooms 
and in back of it a vegetable garden. The interiors 
of the houses themselves seem to be something in 
the nature of gardens, human gardens, judging 
from the many cries of childish pleasure one hears, 
the many young faces he sees, as he walks along 
these winding ways. 

One of the show places of Summerville is 
the tea plantation which the late Dr. Charles 
U. Shepard successfully started and main- 
tained. This was the first successful example 
of tea growing in the United States, and 
Dr. Shepard's work was so carefully done and 
was of so great value that the United States 
Department of Agriculture gave him special 
assistance in his enterprise. One may buy 
/ this Summerville tea at the hotel or at the 
stores. It comes in pound packages and has a 
very good flavor, somewhat stronger, somewhat 
j cleaner tasting, to tell the truth, than the im- 
\ ported article. Since Dr. Shepard's death the 
tea farm has been conducted by his heirs, and 
still maintains the same atmosphere of cordi- 
180 





II M I lUll.l, I 1 .\ HAKll_SY 



IN SUMMERVILLE 

ality to visitors that it had when Dr. Shepard him- 
self would welcome one to the place. 

Pretty drives may be found in any direction one 
strikes out from the town, and many beautiful old 
plantation houses are in the immediate neighbor- 
hood. Perhaps the most interesting drive is to go 
over to the Ashley river and to continue along its 
course, visiting these places which have been famous 
for many a day on this historic old stream. Un- 
fortunately the majority of the historic homes on 
the Ashley are not now in a state of preservation. 
During the closing days of the Civil War when 
Sherman's army went through this section, that 
leader, in his endeavor to prove the famous dictum 
about war with which his name is associated, or feel- 
ing that these famous homes were a menace to the 
security of his section of the country, had the axe 
and the torch applied to the houses. The silver and 
valuables were looted and to-day may be found as 
precious heirlooms in the families of many of 
Sherman's soldiers. 

Of Middleton Barony, one of the most beautiful 
of the old houses, only a wing remains, but this wing 
is very characteristic in aspect of the body of the 

181 



WINTER JOURNEYS 

house, giving a very good idea of what the whole 
composition must have looked like when it was 
standing entire. Desolation beside this wing shows 
where the home, proper, was. Fortunately the gar- 
den of Middleton Barony was not destroyed and 
this is a very beautiful sight, especially in the early 
or middle spring when the azaleas and altheas are 
in bloom. 

Speaking of gardens, however, inevitably calls 
to mind the garden of Drayton Hall, a next-door 
neighbor of Middleton Barony. As with the latter, 
j Drayton Hall, the house, is merely a memory, but 
the garden remains. In this garden have been cul- 
tivated for a hundred years azaleas of all kinds, and 
during the blooming season it is a bewildering con- 
vocation of color. 

Another drive that will interest the most unro- 
mantic of mortals, especially visitors from Massa- 
chusetts, is the drive to the ruined town of Dorches- 
ter, about three miles from Summerville and on the 
Ashley. Dorchester, it will be remembered, was 
founded by an offshoot colony of Puritans from 
Massachusetts, who came to this locality about the 
beginning of the Eighteenth century. It is a 
182 



IN SUMMERVILLE 

pathetic story, — this story of the founding and ex- 
tinction of Dorchester, but one that would need a 
canvas very much larger than this one to be set 
forth upon. The colony flourished for a while, but 
eventually it was overcome by the unfamiliar con- 
ditions of the climate which these stern fathers did 
not in the least undertsand. These Pilgrims builded 
well, however, where they did build; the ruins of 
the old Dorchester church are still an impressive 
spectacle, and scattered walls and chimneys here 
and there on the site of the ancient city give a 
melancholy reminder that human beings once 
f worked industriously and hopefully here. It was 
malaria that overthrew Dorchester, a sneaking, in- 
sidious enemy against which these worthy people 
knew no safeguard. 

Summerville is rapidly becoming a colony of 
winter permanent visitors from the North, by this I 
mean people who stay from fall to spring, and well 
into spring. There are many charming old houses 
in the village and these are fast being taken up. 
Among the most attractive of these restored old 
houses is that in which lives Miss Whelan, of Brook- 
line, Massachusetts. 

183 



PINEHURST, WHERE GOOD 
GOLFERS GO 



PINEHURST, WHERE GOOD GOLFERS 

GO 

IT is safe to say that if anyone who goes to 
Pinehurst is not a golfer he is a devotee of 
some other form of sport. There is a healthy 
out-of-doors atmosphere about the place, and a 
charm of movement and bustle of young life that is 
wholly unique. 

As to golf, there can be no doubt that every 
good Pinehurster hves in just two states of exist- 
ence. One of these states of existence is, playing 
golf; the other one is, just the rest of life. When 
they dream, they dream of long shots through roll- 
ing, piney land ; when they wake it is only to inquire 
of their muscles whether they are fit for another 
day's work over on the links. When they talk, they 
talk the jargon of the sons of St. Andrew. Even 
in the principal hotel of Pinehurst is this significant 
sign posted prominently in all of the corridors and 
the lobby: " Guests of this establishment are re- 
quested not to walk with hob-nailed boots or shoes 
on the floors of this hotel." 

187 



WINTER JOURNEYS 

It is no detraction to the rest of the attractions 
of Pinehurst to say that the place is the golfer's 
paradise of the South, and that it is rapidly becom- 
ing one of the most important golfing centers in the 
whole comitry. 

To begin with, climatic conditions are almost 
ideal for the game here. There is little bad weather, 
and, owing to the sandy nature of the soil, rain may 
fall for several days and the day that the skies clear 
will leave the ground almost as dry as before the 
precipitation began. Then, the management of 
Pinehurst seeing the interest in this game, has con- 
stantly fostered this phase of the establishment's 
activities by every means in its power. 

There are now four golf courses at Pinehurst, 
three of which are eighteen-hole courses and the 
fourth of which is a nine-hole course being rapidly 
converted into the double length. The first course 
is open at all times; the next two courses must be 
approached by reservation made beforehand, the 
demand for these playing grounds being so great 
that the management could not allow an indiscrimi- 
nate entrance thereon. Drawings are made nightly 
for the reservations of the following day, and the 
188 




A I'l.NKIIl U.ST .STUKliT 




.1. '1 THE PUIVATK HESIDKNCES 



PINEHURST AT GOLF 

schedule so secured is posted in the lobbies of all of 
the hotels. These drawings are most impartially 
secured so that one may know that if he has an in- 
convenient time for starting he has not been singled 
out with a dark sense of malice by the management. 

Golf is by no means, however, the only form of 
outdoor diversion at Pinehurst. Riding is another 
means of exercise which here numbers many devo- 
tees. A good stable is kept and competent attendants 
may be secured, either for instruction or as escorts 
for long rides in the country around. Drag hunts, 
fox hunts, ghymkhanas, and other "equestrian 
events," to use the circus phrase, are frequent 
throughout the "season," and add much to the inter- 
est of this form of the establishment's activity. 

The lover of tennis will find good courts at 
Pinehurst, but the general level of the play is not 
by any means of the same high excellence as will be 
found on the golf links. The courts are sandy and 
are rather hot. It would be impossible to make Pine- 
hurst a Mecca for tennis enthusiasts as it is for 
followers of golf. Happy the man or place, how- 
ever, that is able to find excellence in one direction ! 

Trap shooting is also one of the major diver- 

189 



WINTER JOURNEYS 

sions afforded by the Pinehurst management. One 
can secm*e competent instruction at the traps and 
women visitors frequently take advantage of the 
chance to become adept in the sport pecuHarly 
associated with the sterner sex. 

The roads in the vicinity of Pinehurst are good, 
though not wide. They are acceptable, however, for 
automobile travel, and there are many rides near at 
hand that are well worth the taking. One may go, 
for instance, to Fayetteville, North Carolina, one 
of the old, old towns with a historic background. 
Or he may go to Cheraw, South Carolina, another 
picturesque survival of a long gone generation. 

The Pinehurst management has instituted cer- 
tain annual sporting features, some of which have 
become very well known through the country. 
Among the golf fixtures are the Annual Open 
Tournament, played near the end of November; 
the Holiday Week Tournament, which is as its 
name implies at Christmas time; the Midwinter 
Tournament, which continues through the first part 
of January ; the St. Valentine's Tournament, which 
occupies the first part of February; the St. Valen- 
tine's Tournament for Women, which follows the 
190 



PINEHURST AT GOLF 

one for men; the Tin Whistle Anniversary 
Tournament, toward the end of February; the 
Spring Tournament, at about the first of March; 
and then the big tournaments which close the year 
here. These are: the United North and South 
Amateur Championship for Women; the Annual 
Amateur Pofessional Four-Ball Best-Ball Match; 
the United North and South Open Championship ; 
the United North and South Amateur Champion- 
ship ; and the Mid-April Tournament. The Cham- 
pionship for Women, the Open Championship, and 
the ALmateui* Championship have become very well- 
known features in the Ajnerican golf world, and 
always attract good players. 

A few words as to the tournament with the 
strange name, the Tin Whistle Tournament, may 
' not be amiss : The Tin Whistle Club is a special 
organization of old Pinehurst people drawn together 
some years ago and maintained with enthusiasm ever 
since. It has weekly handicap events and one 
annual tournament. The nimiber of members is 
limited and possession of a Tin Wliistle member- 
ship is much prized. 

Ajnong the shooting fixtures are the Midwinter 

191 



WINTER JOURNEYS 

Handicap Tournament, and lesser events organized 
every week for two months dm^ing the height of the 
season, at which sterling silver cups are presented 
for the best scores. The one great feature men- 
tioned has become a very important annual institu- 
tion in the gun and trap world. It comes off about 
the middle of January and brings out the most ar- 
dent followers of this sport. The prizes are of 
unusual monetary value, and permanent minor 
trophies are offered which keep a keen edge on the 
whole entry in the event. 

Pinehurst differs from many resorts in the fact 
that the whole community has sprung from one 
central source; the town, itself, that is, is an out- 
growth of the resort and not vice versa, as is usually 
the case. The whole district is governed by one 
autocrat, though a very amiable one. This autocrat 
is Mr. Leonard Tufts, of Boston. Anyone who has 
the pleasure of Mr. Tufts' acquaintance knows that 
he is not a despot, by any means. Quietly insistent, 
most discerning, and accustomed to success in hav- 
ing his own way whenever he thinks that rjecessary, 
he is nevertheless a man of sufficiently broad vision 
to know that there are many opinions in the world 
192 



PINEHURST AT GOLF 

and that it is by a just opposition of these opinions 
that equihbriuni in the universe is secured. He has 
many associates and neighbors now, and he manages 
to maintain a very high degree of harmony through- 
out the ramifications of the whole system of which 
he is the genius. 

The little village is the outgrowth of the con- 
ception of the late James W. Tufts, of Boston, who 
in 1895 laid the foundations of the present Pine- 
hurst. He became acquainted with the virtues of 
the Carolina uplands in this " sandhill " section 
years before this date, and at length became pos- 
sessed of the idea, being a man of philanthropic 
impulse and generous purse, to found here a com- 
munity for those individuals in the world who were 
in ill health through lack of proper climatic sur- 
roundings. He began this humanitarian undertak- 
ing but soon came to realize that his vision was chi- 
merical and he changed his enterprise into the form 
in which it substantially exists at present. 
/ Originally, therefore, Pinehurst was a " health " 
/ resort, especially for those beings who suffered from 
I pulmonary troubles. Now the utmost endeavor of 
the management is to exclude all who have any trace 
13 193 



WINTER JOURNEYS 

/ of respiratory weakness. The place accomplishes 
more good and gives strength and good cheer to more 
thousands with its present ideal than it would with 
any other outlook. It is impossible to put together 
the sick and the well and to care for them both. 

The whole tract on which Pinehurst is situated 
includes ten thousand acres. The portion on which 
the village stands was laid out by Olmsted, the 
landscape architect of Boston. This means that 
there are no straight lines in the development of the 
place. When one walks one walks in a circle! It 
is attractive, however, to follow the winding roads 
of Pinehurst, with the shrubs beside the walks, pass- 
ing the pleasant lawns of the place and occasionally 
meeting a great, scraggly, long-leaf pine tree, the 
belhgerent species of vegetation from which this 
section derives its name. The little community was 
all planned and was well nigh completed before 
guests were entertained at the hotel, or cottages 
were offered for sale. The whole place has now a 
capacity for guests of about ten thousand, though 
this is an elastic limit often strained to the utmost. 
The " long-leaf pine section " of North Carohna 
has natural characteristics of such individuality that 
194 




^'MheT :Jk. f\. ''mk- 



-^ ''"' 




NINTH HOLE, PINEHl RST COUKSE NO. 1, SHOWfXG THE CHARACTER OF THE 

COUNTRY 




W.VK lll\(, I 111, l.in.MKli \NA 



PINEHURST AT GOLF 

no one who has ever become acquainted with them 
forgets them. The part of the long-leaf belt on 
which Pinehurst is situated is about 650 feet above 
the level of the sea. It is a dry, sandy plateau, 
rather noteworthy for the sparseness of its vegeta- 
tion than for its variety or quantity. Indeed, Mr. 
Tufts says that one of the first problems in connec- 
tion with the inception of the city was the planting 
of the streets. He is from Massachusetts where the 
villages have tree-lined streets, and it seemed to his 
tidy New England nature not only unwholesome, 
but against all precedent that streets should be bare 
of trees. For several years he experimented with 
various kinds of plantings without much success in 
getting anything to grow that satisfied his ideas. 
Gradually he came to see that one of the attractions 
of the place was the uninterrupted flood of pure 
sunlight which sweeps down dazzlingly upon the 
place during its waking hours. There is as much 
glare here as there is at the sea shore, only there is 
a different quality of light. The reflection is not 
prismatic, blinding, as it is on the sandy, bleached 
shores. It is golden, mellow, in accordance with the 
brownish clay soil from which it is thrown back. 

195 



WINTER JOURNEYS 

I have spoken of the " long-leaf " pine and I 
hope my tone has conveyed my affection. Who can 
ever forget the long-leaf pine? It resembles the 
f amihar inhabitant of the Northern forest only there 
is a certain flamboyance and bulliness to it that the 
Northern pine has not. The leaves or needles are 
very much longer and there is a greater extravagance 
in all of its crooked gestures than one finds in the 
Northern pine. Now it comes with its fellows over 
the barren hill-tops like an army with banners ad- 
vancing ; and here one sees the tree alone, a sentinel 
upon a distant hill-top. Its armor is bent, its ac- 
coutrements are battered, it is worn by inner doubts 
and fears, but still it stands on duty perpetually 
overcome, but never dismayed in heart. 

There are several hotels in Pinehurst, so that one 
may take his choice and suit his purse. The Caro- 
lina, the largest of the chain, is a very comfortable 
and commodious house, one of whose distinguishing 
features is its pleasant sleeping porches. Then 
there is the Holly Inn which has a clientele of its 
own, mainly of New England people. 

If one stops at the Carolina he will be fortunate 

to secure a sleeping porch. The rooms which have 
196 



PINEHURST AT GOLF 

this adjunct are in great demand and are usually 
engaged a long time ahead. The table at the Caro- 
lina is extraordinarily good ; the service is excellent, 
and there is a wide variety of edibles. 

The dining-room is not pretty but is neverthe- 
less a scene of brilliance in the evening, with the 
lavish toilettes of the ladies. This is typical of Pine- 
hurst; that the women play golf all day in any old 
togs, — and then dress in the evening in imported 
frocks with a firm intention of putting a large dent 
in the reputation for luxuriousness of that old 
heroine, the Queen of Sheba. 

Guests of any hotel in Pinehurst are welcome 
in any other of the Pinehurst houses. The Carolina 
ball-room in the evenings is full of visitors from all 
of the other stopping places in the community. The 
regular Saturday night dance here is quite a gay 
affair, and the floor is filled to overflowing. 



DOWN THE LUMBEE IN A CANOE 



DOWN THE LUMBEE IN A CANOE 

IN the mid- South there flows a clear water 
stream which is navigable for canoes and 
small boats for more than two hundred miles, 
from up in North Carolina, near Pine Bluff, to 
Georgetown on the Atlantic coast, South Carolina. 
It is the only clear water stream fit for canoes 
between the Gulf of Mexico and Virginia, I am 
told, — the only stream of such extent, that is. Near 
Savannah there are other canoe streams but these do 
not reach such ambitious figures as the Limibee. 

The Lumbee runs through a country containing 
many possibilities for diversion. But the story of 
this stream and the whole trip is bound up with that 
of the Midwinter Canoeing Club of Pine Bluff, 
and this in turn rests upon the latter life history 
of Dr. John Warren Achorn, formerly of Boston, 
but now of Pine Bluff, discoverer of this canoeing 
course. 

One of the great assets of the Midwinter Canoe- 
ing Club is the personality of its founder and mov- 
ing spirit, and the charm of his household, which 

201 



WINTER JOURNEYS 

consists of his wife, an accomplished musician. For 
fifteen years or more Dr. Achorn has known this 
district of the long-leaf pine. Five years ago he 
retired from the active practice of his profession 
in Boston and made his permanent home in this sec- 
tion, charmed, he declares, by the delightful climatic 
features of the country, with its six weeks of win- 
ter, and 232 days of sunshine in a year. Then 
there was the lure of the Lumbee and the almost 
virgin forests at its headwaters. 

A Maine man born and bred, and all his hfe a 
lover of the great forests of his native state, Dr. 
Achorn early in his professional career became per- 
suaded of the value of out-of-doors as a curative 
means in the treatment of many diseases, particu- 
larly those whose base was exhaustion of mental, 
nervous or phyiscal force. For years he carried 
them up into the pine woods of Maine and made 
them bunk on beds of balsamic boughs (pardon the 
alliteration) . Maine, however, is cold and cheerless 
for much of the year, — cheerless that is to the man 
who is accustomed to a more temperate clime, 
and far too rigorous for the average invalid. It 

was then that Dr. Achorn became acquainted with 
202 




CHARACTERISTIC SCENE oV THE l.l NlHKl, 




THE STAUT AT UEL E'si liUlUGK 



DOWN THE LUMBEE 

the pine woods of North Carolina, particularly of 
this sand hill section. He found the Lumbee, and 
has ever since wooed its graces with the ardor of a 
young man with a new mistress. 

It is not many years since Dr. Achorn first ran 
the course of the Lumbee in his canoe from Blue's 
Bridge, — only a short distance from his home in 
Pine Bluff, — to the sea at Georgetown. But in 
that time he communicated his own enthusiasm in 
the trip to men and women of his own temperament 
in various sections of the country. The final result 
of this was the formation of the Midwinter Canoeing 
Club, which now has about fifty members and a 
modest paid-in capital. 

The object of the Midwinter Canoeing Club is 
to build a camp at intervals of twenty-five miles or 
more along the entire course of the canoe run, from 
beginning to end. Thus it will be possible for any- 
one to start at Blue's Bridge and make the trip by 
comfortable instalments. It is also schemed to 
purchase timber rights and hunting privileges at 
various points on the route, and this latter phase of 
the question has been gone into so thoroughly that 
the club already has options on or titles to most of the 

203 



WINTER JOURNEYS 

land that it desires. The first shanty or camp has 
ah-eady been built at Blue's Bridge. It is an un- 
pretentious structure consisting merely of an up- 
stairs living-room, and a store-room down stairs in 
which the twelve canoes of the club are stored. But 
its situation in a royally beautiful pine woods, with 
the narrow, swift-moving, black stream in front of 
it (tall cypresses bathing their knees) down which 
one may picture himself paddling to the great 
Atlantic, gives the place a piquant flavor which 
makes it a pleasant memory. 

It is not necessary to take the whole trip from 
Blue's Bridge to the sea to enjoy some part of the 
advantages of the club. One may, that is, start 
from Blue's Bridge and paddle for a day down the 
river and come back by automobile that same day. 
This is frequently done by people from Pinehurst, 
Southern Pines, Pine Bluff, or other of the winter 
resort centers in this section. 

Starting from Blue's Bridge, the first forty 
miles of the course lead through a heavily timbered 
region containing much game. The fishing is good 
here, and on any part of the river in the season. 
Bass, pickerel, blue bream, and perch are the princi- 
204 



DOWN THE LUMBEE 

pal game fish. There is in addition a very game 
sort of perch known locally as the " red robin " 
which rises to a fly, strikes hard, and gives any 
angler good sport. 

/ In the next fifty miles, which end at Lumberton, 
jone passes the Croatan Indian reservation. There 
/are three thousand five hundred Indians on this 
reserv^ation, and the habits of life, the villages and 
so on, are well worth seeing. Romance is attached 
to the tribe by reason of the legend that they are 
descendants of the lost colony of Sir Walter Raleigh 
at Jamestown. In addition to the fact that many 
of them have blue eyes and coal black hair there 
are certainly other historical considerations which 
lend at least a flavor of plausibility to this story. 
The tribe came from the vicinity of Cape Hatteras, 
down to which Raleigh's starving settlers might 
easily have made their way along the coast watching 
for his vessels of relief. However, the evidence is 
not strong enough to establish the contention, and it 
remains, like many other things, a pleasant ground 
for speculation, wherein, in the absence of facts, 
anyone's opinion is as good as the next man's. 

The name Lumbee was bestowed upon the 

205 



WINTER JOURNEYS 

stream by these Croatans. It means in their tongue 
" beautiful river," or something of this sort. 

Opposite Lumberton the Lumbee is one hun- 
dred feet wide and is easily navigable from here on 
by launches if one so desires. One passes through 
a diversified country from Lumberton on, alternat- 
ing between forests and cultivated land. Here and 
there is a deserted plantation. 

About ninety miles beyond Lumberton the 
Little Pee Dee river comes in, and here the stream 
attains large proportions and is known by the name 
of the second river. Farther on the Little Pee 
Dee joins the Great Pee Dee, and in turn gives up 
the first part of its name. The water from here on 
is muddy. Just before the junction of the Little 
Pee Dee and the Great Pee Dee there is a bewil- 
dering and fascinating piece of water known as the 
" Flats." It is made up of a number of lagoons 
which cut across the course of the stream for fifteen 
miles. There seems to be nothing to guide one's self 
by here, and it is very easy to become lost in the 
cypress woods that border the water. In the middle 
of the " Flats " is a sand island, seven acres in 
extent, which has already acquired individuality to 
206 



DOWN THE LUMBEE 

the enthusiasts who follow the Lumbee every year. 
Here a little cabin has been built and here it is that 
the canoeists put up over night before taking up 
the last leg of the journey. 

From the junction of the Little and Great Pee 
Dee it is thirty-four miles to Georgetown. 

The whole Lumbee course is really most unusual, 
and it is probably the only canoeing water in the 
eastern states of so many attractions that it can be 
run in winter. Its number of lovers is increasing, 
and in a very few years I have no doubt one may 
hear those who know the course now saying to an 
admiring audience: " Why, yes, I knew the Lum- 
bee before it became so popular! " 



ASHEVILLE IN A SAPPHIRE SKY 



ASHEVILLE IN A SAPPHIRE SKY 

ik SHEVILLE in the sapphire sky; yet it 
/-2^ is of the sapphire sky rather than of Ashe- 
^ JLville that I would sing my song. I have 
not coined the phrase. This country has been known 
as the Sapphire Country for many years, but the 
term has been made familiar to the man in the street 
of recent years by railroad literature. 

In itself the designation is a tribute to the unique 
natural beauty of this section of the eastern states. 
The Sapphire Country includes that part of west- 
ern North Carolina of which Asheville is the dis- 
tributing point, a high plateau section whose general 
altitude above the sea is sixteen hundred to two 
thousand feet, diversified by mountain peaks and 
ranges reaching the highest altitudes of any forma- 
tions of land east of the Rocky mountains. It con- 
tains such picturesque ranges of mountains as the 
Big Smoky mountains, and such charming other 
features as Lake Toxaway. 

The country has been much tramped over and 
hunted over, but there are still many places in it 

211 



WINTER JOURNEYS 

which are virgin wilderness, and hundreds of thou- 
sands of men and women might seclude themselves 
in its forest shades without crowding each other. 

Of recent years Asheville and places round 
about have become favorite stopping points for the 
winter visitor to the South in the fall and in the 
late spring, on the way down and on the way up 
from the far South. At either of these seasons the 
country may be seen in very beautiful aspects. 

The Sapphire Country has long been a favorite 
camping ground with me. I first became acquainted 
with it when I spent a winter as a member of 
an engineering corps at Spruce Pine which is in 
Mitchell county, in the Big Smokies. From the 
crest of the mountains near at hand we had a glori- 
ous view of all the wonderful expanse of sky and 
trees and infinite distances which the locality 
affords. Nowhere have I seen such big cottony 
clouds or such delicate distant blues arching up into 
full royal ultramarine overhead. At night, so clear 
is the air you feel that you could reach up and 
knock the stars together; you feel that some thick 
skin were right overhead in which holes were cut 
and behind which a furious light burned eternally. 
212 




i^iIm^ 



ASHE VILLE 

Some years ago there was a boarding-house at 
Spruce Pine which rejoiced in the appellation of 
the " Umatilla House." Where the name came 
from I do not know. It was a little house and one 
of the pillars of the front porch was bowed strongly 
outward where the proprietor leaned hour after 
hour, gazing meditatively out over the valley in 
front of his home. 

The hotels at Asheville are comfortable and 
modern. There are the Battery Park Hotel, the 
Langren, the Manor, and the Grove Park Inn. 
The Battery Park Hotel is an old and well-estab- 
lished house under new and progressive manage- 
ment. From its front porch a most magnificent 
panorama of the Sapphire Country may be ob- 
tained. The house is situated on the crest of a 
hill and is thus rather difficult to approach, but its 
natural attractions, meaning the view, when one 
reaches it, amply compensate one for the climb. 
The Langren is an in-town house. The Manor is 
a new and extremely well-conducted establishment. 
The Grove Park Inn is a big place built on " Roy- 
croft " lines and furnished after the same fashion. 
The last two are close to the golf course and to the 

213 



WINTER JOURNEYS 

new residential section of Asheville. No doubt the 
Manor is one of the most tasteful and comfortable 
houses in Asheville. 

There is a certain sinister context which the 
name, Asheville, has, because of the well- justified 
fame the little city has secured in the treatment of 
diseases of the respiratory organs. The healthy man 
feels more inclined to keep away from than to go 
to the place, no matter how loudly its praise may 
be sung to him. No doubt this attitude of mind was 
justified twenty, or even ten, years ago when the 
sight of patients in various stages of the most 
dreaded disease was a common one on the streets 
of the city, and when one did not know what sick 
person might have preceded one at a hotel. But 
now with the stringent health regulations of the 
place and the careful fashion in which all per- 
sons suffering from any contagious disease are ex- 
cluded from the hotels, there is no real ground for 
hesitancy on the part of anyone thinking of visiting 
Asheville. 

The approaches to Asheville are picturesque no 
matter from what direction one comes. If one 
makes his entry by way of Salisbury, from the east 
214 



ASHE VILLE 

that is, he will pass the Andrews Geyser, a foun- 
tain of mountain spring water which the Southern 
railway has caused to flow at one of the most im- 
pressive parts of the winding passage of the road 
over the mountains, in honor of the engineer who 
had charge of the work by which the Southern was 
enabled to overcome this mountain range and con- 
tinue on to the West. A stream of clear water 
forty feet high gushes forth, never ceasing. The 
railroad runs on the four sides of the little vale at 
the base of which it is ituated and consequently the 
passengers are enabled to view this memorial from 
every angle. 

Not far from Asheville is Mr. Vanderbilt's 
splendid estate, Biltmore. Much has been written 
about this place and there is material for much more 
writing, no doubt. Biltmore is a combination of 
community, home and rich man's hobby which 
affords much food for observation and reflection. 
The house itself is a most wonderful reproduction 
of a French chateau. What the original is I do 
not know, if any there were. It is beautifully situ- 
ated and has a commanding outlook over the en- 
chanting country of the sapphire sky. Then there 

215 



WINTER JOURNEYS 

is the Biltmore school, a community institution for 
the mountain people, and the Biltmore dairy, a 
scientifically conducted establishment which sup- 
plies most of Asheville with pure milk. Since Mr. 
Vanderbilt's advent into this region the name Bilt- 
more has become a most popular one in Asheville. 
There is the Biltmore laundry and the Biltmore 
this and the Biltmore that. An inspiring feature 
of the whole Biltmore undertaking is the manner 
in which the forest has been preserved, and in which 
magnificent roads have been laid out through these 
majestic woods. This is an object lesson to all 
those Americans who have the preservation of the 
forests of the country at heart. 

There is a good eighteen-hole golf course at 
the Asheville Country Club and there are good 
tennis courts here, too. The dues, moreover, for 
transients, are not inordinately high. 

In all directions from Asheville one may take 
pleasant drives and horseback rides. While not 
given to horseback riding myself I have been told 
by one who knows that there are no less than forty 
trails not crossing each other which one may follow 
on a good horse from Asheville. The tramps and 
216 



ASHE VILLE 

bridle paths through the mountains hereabout 
have not yet been charted. But in the minds of 
some enterprising lovers of the Sapphire Country 
the idea has been conceived to interest the Moun- 
taineer's Club of Boston in planning and mapping 
this whole district. One may wish this worthy con- 
ception the utmost success. 



THE NEW LIFE OF THE OLD 
WHITE 



THE NEW LIFE OF THE OLD WHITE 

IT was dark when I reached White Sulphur 
Springs, so I could not see the ancient ark 
which bore me from the station to the hotel. 
The full revelation of its charms was to await me on 
the morrow, and a stimulating sight I found it. It 
looks like a Wild West Express of the Wells- 
Fargo days, done in the orange which has made the 
F. F. V. trains famous, and breathes importance 
hke a prize pumpkin. 

After a short rumble over a smooth bit of road, 
we drew up with a clatter and jingle before the 
imposing front of the Greenbrier. Cheerful greet- 
ing, stately following of a black man who could 
carry an impossible amount of luggage, and I was 
comfortably established in a thoroughly modern 
room where I might follow my thoughts into 
dreamland. 

Morning broke, with that misty air of sleepy 
unconcern (like a tousled hoyden) which marks 
the mornings of middle winter in the Blue Ridge 
Mountains, and showed a pleasing prospect from 

221 



WINTER JOURNEYS 

the window. The sun was just beginning to 
brighten the fronts of a row of old-time cottages, 
part of the White Sulphur property, fog was rising 
in the valleys, and a great, scraggy pine stood like 
one worsted, but still fighting, on the hill top. It 
became the part of curiosity to sally out and see 
what sights awaited. 

There was much to be viewed both in and out of 
the hotel, but I think I will start where I usually do, 
at breakfast. 

Safely seated in the dining-room and having 
passed the inspection of the French head-waiter, 
with, I trust, a measurable degree of credit, I was 
struck by the fact that the menu was " a la carte," 
instead of " table d'hote." For my own part I 
prefer the old time custom, though I have no doubt 
that " a la carte " has a distinction of its own. The 
question brings to mind that old conundrum: 
"What is the difference between table d'hote and a 
la carte? " "Why, in the first case you order every- 
thing on the card, and in the second you lose your 
appetite ! " 

Not much humor or ingenuity in this conun- 
drum, but assuredly a grain of philosophy. 
222 



^^1 ^HHk^B^^H 




■h 




■IS/'|]i^ 


'p 




■^^^^E^^"' 




nil 


w^:: 






THE OLD WHITE 

However in the Greenbrier it has been the aim 
to transplant a Fifth Avenue hostelry, and set it 
complete in the wilds. 

The most charming part of the dining-room, no 
doubt, is the porch, with its outlook over the grounds 
towards the station. One may eat sunshine with 
his food here, a most desirable addition to any meal. 

The Greenbrier is the most recent conspicuous 
addition to the winter resort hotels of the South, 
and it may interest some to read a brief summary 
of the facts of its erection and appearance. The 
house was built 1910-1912, though it shows no 
signs of its recent construction, so carefully have 
the grounds been replanned and planted. It is a 
large, ornate structure of the late Georgian type, 
and its interior arrangements are exceedingly well 
devised. The visitor will be especially pleased with 
the lobby, which combines decorative effect with 
real comfort. Adjoining the lobby is a large, red- 
tiled, brick-arched sun-room (the " Spring Room") 
containing many comfortable chairs for those who 
would lounge; and adjacent to this room is the 
ball-room, a really beautiful exposition of the archi- 
tect's and the craftsman's joint labors. In the 

223 



WINTER JOURNEYS 

lounge may be found fountains of the spring waters 
for which this locality is famous. Iron, sulphur, 
and limestone may be drunk. I do not advise it. I 
do not like the looks of water containing iron; in a 
bottle it reminds me of nothing so much as a cross 
section of a pool of pollywogs not all hatched out. 
And no amount of persuasion could make me taste 
sulphur water. Yet many drink them both, and 
say they thrive thereon. 

The winter days at White Sulphur Springs vary 
in character from a mild balminess which makes you 
think that buds must be preparing to break, sum- 
mer-loving birds to sing, and blossoms to appear 
on the road side. These are the days when one goes 
riding or driving over some of the beautiful roads 
which a century of pleasure-seeking Americans have 
planned through the mountain country round 
about. Then, again, there will be a day, or a week 
of days, when the air is sharp and brittle and cold, 
and one bundles up in furs for an outing, and c6mes 
back to sit with the contentment of a cat before the 
roaring fires in the great fire-places in the lobby. 

To fit these winter days, the management of the 
house has devised a variety of sports such as skiing, 
224 




FAMOUS SPRING HOUSE, " i il.l) ' WliriK sn.PIIUR 




ANOTHER RELIC OF THE PAST 



THE OLD WHITE 

skating, and snow shoeing. But chief of all the 
diversions they have thought up is " Slang-chock- 
ing." Do you know what a " slang-chock "is? I 
doubt it, and I shall describe one to you. 

Imagine a long wooden beam with a sled at one 
end. The other is pivoted on the ice. The beam 
then revolves around the fixed point with the sled 
at the circumference of the circle. This, briefly, is 
the philosophy of the " slang-chock." The name 
and the institution are of Norwegian origin, I have 
been told, and I believe that the Norwegians have 
some outlandish way of spelling the word more 
suited to their perverse idea of phonetics than that 
which I have struck on. But with this we have 
no concern. 

I have not had the pleasure ever of seeing a 
" slang-chock " party, though I harbor no feeling in 
the question, but I have been told that it is a very 
brilliant and very amusing spectacle. The skaters, 
gaily clad, gather around the dreadful instrument 
of amusement. Some of them sit in the sled, others 
get behind the bars and push, still others form a 
line leading out from the end of the bar (a sort of 
crack- the- whip arrangement). There is an excit- 
15 225 



WINTER JOURNEYS 

ing whirl and scramble, the clang of steel against 
ice rings out, and everybody is breathless and 
happy. 

To those who care for golf the Greenbrier offers 
a choice of two well-planned and finely maintained 
com'ses, with a comfortable and commodious club- 
house to look after the physical wants of the mortals 
who use them. 

One of the prettiest parts of the Greenbrier, and 
one of the most attractive, is beyond question the 
pool in the bathhouse. A large rectangle of crystal- 
clear water, enclosed and bottomed with mosaic tile, 
it is set under a high glass dome and encircled by 
broad walks on which palms, hot-house plants, and 
comfortable chairs have been placed. The ladies of 
the hotel have shown their appreciation of this part 
of the place by forming it into a congregating point 
for the first part of the morning, bringing their sew- 
ing hither and discussing (who knows what?) prob- 
lems of feminine statecraft, with that eminent gift 
of unvarnished directness with which the sex goes 
at such affairs as before which man hesitates and 
trembles. 

And now a few words as to the baths, though 
226 



THE OLD WHITE 

the hotel puts out voluminous literature on the sub- 
ject which can be secured by anyone who so desires. 
The management has expended prodigious sums 
of money to bring into the bath establishment all of 
those features and treatments which have made 
various European places famous, and it seems to 
have been successful in securing every variation of 
the normal means of using water that has been in- 
vented since good old Noah used it for boating on. 
I do not know anything about the medical value of 
this kind of bathing, but I can testify that in this 
one establishment the Greenbrier can give you any 
kind of bath known in Europe that a doctor could 
prescribe. I have seen black, primeval looking mud 
with which they plaster you over, fierce nozzles of 
water which project a stream of hot water with force 
enough to crush you, queer boxes with needle sprays 
and electric lights, and enough other infernal devices 
to turn even a German savant's hair gray in the cata- 
loguing of them all. May I be saved from ever 
needing such capable assistance in my ablutions! 
The lay of the land of the whole AVhite Sulphur 
Springs property is that of a bowl with an outlet 
toward the north, where Howard's Creek has cut a 

227 



WINTER JOURNEYS 

valley in the mountains. The center of this bowl is 
occupied by the Old AVhite Sulphur Springs Hotel. 
The new hotel is situated on the west rim of the 
bowl, and so close to the old hostelry that a wing 
from the new house joins it to that famous old 
institution. 

The waters of the White Sulphur Springs, we 
are told, were known to the Indians before the 
white men took possession of this part of the world, 
and were used by them to effect cures of rheumatic 
troubles, too. The last of the savages to dwell in 
the region were the Shawnees, who bitterly fought 
every inch of their beloved valley, and were not 
until 1774, after the battle of Point Pleasant, finally 
dispossessed and driven west of the Ohio river. 

The property on which the spring is situated 
was originally patented to a Nathan Carpenter, who 
met a sad death at the hands of the Indians. Car- 
penter's wife, Kate, hid from her husband's slayers 
in the mountain which has since that time been 
known as Kate's mountain. From 1779 to 1784 
tents were scattered around the springs, in which 
settlers lived while taking the cure; and then log 
cabins began to be built, so that in 1786 there was 
228 




PARADISE ROW, THE BACHELORS' QUARTERS 




VIRGIXIA ROW 



THE OLD WHITE 

quite a colony at this point. The first hotel was 
built in 1808 by James Caldwell, an enterprising 
sea-trader of Baltimore, who by marriage had ac- 
quired the property; but it was not until 1816 that 
he began the formal development of the place as a 
resort. From this time until 1853 the property 
(much enlarged by gradual purchase of the neigh- 
boring tracts) remained in the possession of the 
Caldwell family. In 1857 the estate was formally 
conveyed to the White Sulphur Springs Company, 
which had been incorporated three years earlier, 
and in 1858 was commenced the main building of 
the old hotel property, which included the parlor 
and the great dining-room. For twenty-five years 
the estate remained in this ownership, and then 
passed through various hands until in February, 
1910, it was acquired by the White Sulphur 
Springs, Incorporated, which placed it in the con- 
trol of the Chesapeake and Oliio Railway. 

This historical outline will, no doubt, be of inter- 
est to many of the friends of one of America's most 
famous watering places. The traditions of the "Old 
White " are innumerable. Grace and beauty and 
high estate have stepped their steps in its halls in 

229 



WINTER JOURNEYS 

its day, and the place has known its stern phases 
of existence when, during the Civil War, the voice 
of armed men distm-bed its calm. Near the hotel 
was fought the battle of Dry Creek, and the hotel, 
itself, was made to serve as a hospital for the 
wounded in that stubborn contest. 

To turn to gentler themes, it has been told that 
in the famous old barroom in the basement, ap- 
proached (who knows why!) by a circular stair, the 
Governor of North Carolina said to the Governor 
of South Carolina: " It is a long time between 
drinks." The White Sulphur mint juleps famous 
far around were not the carelessly flung together 
things of the present day, which masquerade under 
the name of julep, but were compounded with the 
care and seriousness of a deep religious rite. They 
were made of the purest French brandy, limestone 
water, old-fashioned cut sugar, crushed ice and 
young mint so long that the ends touched your ears. 
One of the social institutions of the " Old 
White" was the "Treadmill." The young and 
fair of the guests would secure cavaliers and would 
parade with them in an endless procession while the 
older ones would sit by the wayside and criticize 
230 



THE OLD WHITE 

the passing show. It was a fine way to display- 
one's toilette and person, and an innocent one. 

We turn now to the Greenbrier and to the 
Countess D'Aulsmay. Have I mentioned the 
Countess D'Aulsmay before? No, I think not, but 
it is as well to know one's hotel neighbors. The 
Countess was a vivid, dark, little personage of Aus- 
tria-Hungary ( neither more Austrian than Hunga- 
rian to tell you the ti-uth) who looked as if before 
she took up the peerage she had dabbled a bit in the 
stage. She was ultra-ultra, you know, one of those 
Europeans who look on the United States as a bar- 
barous province and who almost would persuade 
us of that belief, too, before they go home. We 
: could never find her husband. Neither could she 
: for that matter, but she did not waste as much time 
in looking for him as we did. 

She was a statuesque little person and wore 
clothes — at least we suppose she thought so. Her 
toilettes were always stimulating in their brevity. 
I remember that one evening she must have become 
fatigued when dressing, when she was about half 
way through, and had come down just as she was, 
for when she appeared in the dining-room she was 

231 



WINTER JOURNEYS 

an immediate sensation. The ladies discussed her 
with bitter candor, the men, as men will, had noth- 
ing to say — being too much occupied in looking. 

Well, Countess D'Aulsmay found a man. He 
was a large fat man, and somebody's husband, no 
doubt. He looked like he might have been that. 
And one fine evening some friends found the man 
and made him sit with them all evening. There 
really isn't much to this yarn. The Countess 
wouldn't sit with the friends. Oh no! and showed 
her distaste of such an evening's program very 
plainly. The man may have become enraged at 
such conduct, I do not know, anyhow he left the 
hotel the next day. So ended a very promising 
story. But isn't it the half stories that are really 
interesting? 

There are so many little dramas to watch at the 
Greenbrier and the place has an exotic flavor that 
I do not know of at any other resort in the South. 
And surrounding all this is the atmosphere of the 
Old White. Eheu! O temporal Omoris! 

A very charming and very beautiful hotel, the 
Greenbrier ; a very lovely and stately tradition, the 
Old White. What a strange marriage is here ! 



HOT SPRINGS, THE RICH 
MAIDEN LADY 



HOT SPRINGS, THE RICH MAIDEN 
LADY 

STAID luxury, comfort, opulence, and ease, 
with a sense of propriety, these phrases 
might be used to summarize the atmosphere 
of Hot Springs, Virginia. I have used the phrase, 
" the rich maiden lady," to describe this place dur- 
ing the winter season, for so it is then. No matter 
how charming the day there is just a hint of severity 
in the air ; the tiniest chilly breath it may be from a 
mountain top. But in spring this term hardly 
holds for then the mountain sides deck themselves 
like a young bride, and appear blushing and per- 
fumed and glorious, waiting their lord and the com- 
ing of summer. But it is with Hot Springs in win- 
ter that I have chiefly to do. 

Originally Hot Springs was known as a health 
resort and it has very largely that character now, 
though the splendid physical comforts of the house 
and the beauty of the country-side have drawn to 
it a clientele which is attracted by these advantages 
alone. In 1804< the curative properties of Hot 

235 



WINTER JOURNEYS 

Springs were written upon by the Rev. Dr. Ashbel 
Green in the Philadelphia Medical and Surgical 
Record, though they had been used before this. 
Dr. Green called attention to their value in the 
treatment of rheumatism and gout. In 1838, we 
are told, when Philadelphia was the nearest rail- 
road station and the only means of travel from 
Philadelphia to Hot Springs was by saddle or car- 
riage, six thousand people visited these springs in 
the course of a year, a large proportion of them 
coming from New England. 

During this time the spot was chiefly visited in 
summer. About twenty-five years ago the rail- 
road was extended from Clifton Forge to Hot 
Springs and gradually the winter patronage of the 
place began to develop. In 1896 or '97 the hotel 
came under the present management and was called 
the Homestead. It has been largely added to in 
succeeding years until now it has a large capacity 
and is one of the most comfortably furnished houses 
in America. 

Before the little railway extension was built 
which runs from Clifton Forge to the Springs, visit- 
ors had to drive from Millboro, the most accessible 
236 



HOT SPRINGS 

point on the main railroad, a trip of thirty miles 
through the mountains. This was fatiguing and un- 
pleasant, especially in winter when the roads were 
frequently almost impassable. The building of the 
branch line of railway, though even this means a 
tedious and rather uncomfortable two hours haul 
over a minor route, may assuredly be called the 
foundation of Hot Springs as a winter resort. 

The qualities which attract the casual visitor to 
Hot Springs during the winter are its easy accessi- 
_ bility from the large Northern cities, its compara- 
I tively even temperature, its diy atmosphere, and the 
I general good character of the house. Hot Springs 
is but fifteen hours from New York and one may 
make the whole trip without change. He will leave 
New York the afternoon of one day and be at his 
destination in the early morning of the day follow- 
ing. More than all, the Homestead carries within 
itself a very metropolitan atmosphere, so that the 
business man can leave the more engrossing cares of 
his daily work and still keep in touch with the main 
currents of his business. There is maintained in 
the hotel a commission brokerage establishment with 
wires direct to the New York Stock Exchange, and 

237 



WINTER JOURNEYS 

shops at which one may purchase whatever in rea- 
son he desires, and in which the feminine contingent 
of the family may conduct those Httle forays for the 
purchase of useless trifles which so much bewilder 
the average male. 

The atmosphere of the Homestead is very much 
that of Manhattan. One sits down in a cosey corner 
of the lobby to read and hears dissertations upon 
the state of the stock market from his nearest neigh- 
bor. He moves his station, and is edified by being 
an unwilling listener to a discussion of New York's 
latest police scandal told from evidently first hand 
information. 

One of the things that first strikes one upon his 
initial visit to the Homestead is the beautiful 
lounge or lobby which extends to the right as one 
enters the main door of the building, a long vista 
of pillars and arches, a lofty ceihng and sprawling, 
comfortable chairs. So intimate and homelike is 
the atmosphere of this lounge through which one 
must walk to reach the desk, that in the course of 
much amused watching I have never seen a man 
enter the door of the hotel to approach the desk 
that he did not immediately take off his hat and 
238 



HOT SPRINGS 

walk softly, as if in a private dwelling. This is a 
rare tribute to the domestic atmosphere of the hotel. 

Large open fire-places are in the lounge, which 
are filled with brightly burning, merry flames dur- 
ing the crisp days. At the upper end of the lounge 
is what is known in the hotel literature as the 
corridor de luxe, in other words a semi-circular 
passage exposed to the morning sun, with large 
French windows, and containing flowering plants, 
writing tables and easy chairs. This is a very beau- 
tiful portion of the house, and is a favorite congre- 
gating point and gossiping corner for ladies in the 
morning. 

Close at hand is the Homestead ball-room, very 
well known and deservedly so. It is an octagonal 
chamber with a cupola supported by square, deco- 
rated pillars. The general scheme of decoration is 
that of a garland or wreath of flowers running 
around the room. On the whole the room is a verj' 
fitting setting for the many brilliant balls it has held. 

The medical portion of the establishment, the 
bath house that is, is approached by a covered pas- 
sage from the hotel proper. It contains all of the 
latest appliances having to do with hydrotherapy 

239 



WINTER JOURNEYS 

jand its allied subjects. The baths are under the 
direction of specialists in their subjects, so that one 
may be sure that he will derive as much benefit as 
possible from the long-famed curative properties 
of these hot sulphur waters. 

The first tee of the eighteen-hole golf course is 
situated not more than two hundred yards from the 
hotel. The course is six thousand and seventeen 
yards long and has many interesting features of 
play. One of its great charms is the beautiful coun- 
try through which it leads one. Not far from the 
eighteen-hole course is the recently completed nine- 
hole course. This leads one up the side of a rugged 
mountain and back through a forest. The whole 
course is twenty-six hundred yards in length. 

The tennis courts lie between the hotel and the 
first tee of the larger golf course. They are clay 
courts and are well kept up during the spring and 
summer months but during the winter are not kept 
in condition for use. 

Riding is one of the chief diversions of Hot 

Springs, and occasionally fox hunts are organized. 

The hotel management has spent a great deal of 

money opening trails through the forests around 

240 




ENTRANCE OF THE HOMESTEAD 




THE UALL-HOOM 



HOT SPRINGS 

and over the mountains. One of the most interest- 
ing of these trails is Delafield, which leads up Warm 
Spring mountain to Flag Rock opposite Warm 
Springs. From here one can, if he care to do so, 
continue on to Millboro. But it is impossible to 
give a description of even a small part of the many 
interesting horseback rides that can be taken with 
the Homestead as a base. 

Not far from Hot Springs lies Warm Springs. 
So one is in a historic resort region here. The 
Warm Springs Hotel is closed in winter time, 
though I have heard some gossip of its being kept 
open as an experiment, but the property is worth 
a visit from those who are stopping at its more 
prosperous neighbor. The hotel building has been 
standing one hundred and twenty-five years or more 
and is very picturesque in appearance. In the safe 
of this hotel is kept an old register which contains 
the signature of Thomas Jefferson. This register 
may be seen during the summer months. Not far 
from this point is the Homestead poultry farm, which 
will interest any one versed in the ways of chickens. 
The manager of this place, a Cornell graduate, talks 
so interestingly of his subject that you almost feel 
16 241 



WINTER JOURNEYS 

that you know something about it when he is 
through. 

As one drives to Warm Springs he passes the 
home of Mary Johnston, the authoress. Her house 
has a pleasant outlook over the little town which is 
the capital of Bath county. 

In the streams near Hot Springs may be ob- 
tained good bass fishing, but the state of Virginia 
season for bass closes on January 1, opening on 
July 1. There are trout, but the trout season is 
smaller still, lasting only thirty days from May 15 
to June 15. 

A characteristic of the Homestead are the con- 
certs in the evening, or rather the pleasure that the 
guests take in these concerts. One sits in the lobby 
after dinner, has coffee, and listens to very good 
chamber music by a musicianly quartet. There is 
the clatter of female voices, light laughter. Alto- 
gether the lounge in the evening is a comfortable 
and pleasant place to be in, especially on those even- 
ings when there is dancing. This starts about nine 
o'clock and one can sit in the lounge and gaze 
through the doors and windows at the dancers. If 
one feels inspired he may even dance ! 
242 



THE COMFORT OF OLD POINT 



THE COMFORT OF OLD POINT 

^ ■ ^HERE exists in the archives of the War 
I Department at Washington a massive 
-^ and ancient report of the then Surgeon- 
} General, in which the surmise is solemnly put forth 
ithat there must be some peculiar property in the 

air at Old Point Comfort, Virginia, by vs^hich the 

fecundity of the race is much increased, or else 
jWhy, he asks, should there be so many children in 
Uhis district, and why should the families of officers 

and soldiers increase so markedly when sent here. 

Whether there is any connection between this im- 
\ portant observation and the fact, wholly incidental, 

I no doubt, that so many bridal couples make this the 
scene of their honeymoon, I do not intend to assert 
or to speculate about. Certainly Old Point is a 
charming scene for a honeymoon and a splendid 
retreat for a winter sojourn. 

There are cold days in winter at Old Point, 
cold, hard, icy, brittle days, and days when the big 
vessels in Hampton Roads are obscured from view 
by driving storms of sleet and snow. Yet the gen- 

245 



WINTER JOURNEYS 

eral course of the cold months at Old Point is mild 
and equable. A branch of the long suffering Gulf 
stream is reliably asserted to exert its beneficent 
influence over this peninsula. Assuredly there is a 
balmy quality in the air here that is not found on the 
same parallel of latitude thirty or forty miles away. 

The redoubtable Captain John Smith mentions 
Old Point Comfort in his journal, and the name, 
we are told, was given to the locality as early as 
1608, when Sir Christopher Newport, driven by a 
bad storm, took refuge between Capes Charles and 
Henry and found " comfort " near this spot in the 
great anchorage of Hampton Roads. Eventually 
it became known as " Old Point " Comfort to dis- 
tinguish the place from another headland of the 
same name not far distant. 

Standing at the junction of Hampton Roads 
and the Chesapeake Bay, and facing the mouth of 
the bay, as it does, it is no wonder that with so 
splendid a strategic situation Old Point Comfort 
has a long military history. As early as 1630 " one 
Harvey built a fort at Old Point Comfort at the 
entrance of the James River." 

During the Revolutionary War it did not see 
246 



OLD POINT COMFORT 

service but in the War of 1812 was held by both 
British and Americans at separate times. At the 
conclusion of that short conflict, the value of the 
point having been demonstrated conclusively, the 
government of this country, upon the insistence of 
President Monroe, took over land at the end of the 
peninsula, and began the erection of the fort which 
was named in honor of Monroe. So the country 
gained a fort, and the president a monument. 

" Fortress Monroe " was the original designa- 
tion of the place and it is the way that it is still 
usually spoken of, though " Fort " Monroe is the 
post-office and military designation. In the first 
form the name itself attests the importance which 
was attached to the place. " Fortress " and " Fort " 
— what is the difference between the two ? Accord- 
ing to an old and practically obsolete military termi- 
nology a fortress is a place that can shelter an army 
and send it out to attack the enemy ; a fort can only 
maintain a body of defenders. A fortress has greater 
potentialities than a fort. Hence the feminine form 
of the word. It can be both defensive and offensive. 

The designs of Fort Monroe were made by that 
Bernard who was an aide-de-camp of the first 

247 



WINTER JOURNEYS 

Napoleon, and who was so highly thought of by 
that genius of battle. After Napoleon's downfall 
Bernard came to this country and obtained service 
under the United States government. His idea 
was to build at Old Point Comfort one of the great 
strongholds of the world, a second Antwerp in 
strength. How well he labored according to the 
ideals of his day is evidenced by the massive walls, 
and the moat of a bygone generation which one can 
see here. These walls would not be of much defen- 
sive value nowadays against the great guns of the 
navies of the world, but in and around the old fort 
the United States government has placed batteries 
of modern high power cannon, thus maintaining 
Old Point Comfort as one of the most important 
defensive points in the United States. Guarding 
as it does the entrance to the Chesapeake and the 
approach to the National capital, its value in time 
of war is readily apprehended. 

One of the favorite walks at Old Point Comfort 
is on the ramparts of Fortress Monroe. Here one 
has wonderful views of Hampton Roads and the 
Chesapeake Bay. A short distance lies Fort Wool, 
or " Rip Raps " as it is familiarly known, a small, 
248 



m 




A (HAHACTEKISTIC VIEW AT OLD POINT COMFORT 




.SU.Ml, 1)1 TUK iDltT .MtiMiiil:. .MU.llAKl 



OLD POINT COMFORT 

round, fortified work begun in 1829 by Robert E. 
Lee, who was then a young lieutenant in the United 
States army. On clear days Capes Henry and 
Charles, twenty and twenty-five miles away, can be 
easily made out at the entrance to the bay. 

A feature of the social life at Old Point Com- 
fort is the mingling of the army, navy and civilian 
circles that one sees. Hampton Roads, as every- 
one knows, is a famous rendezvous for the fleet. 
Then there is Fort Monroe with its permanent cir- 
cle of army people. And many people in the in- 
formal walks of life are attracted to the district for 
its healthful advantages. The ball-room of the 
Chamberlin on ball nights is a very brilliant scene. 
There are the bright uniforms of the two branches 
of the service and there is the black and white of the 
non-military men. Possibly nowhere else on the 
Atlantic seaboard except Newport does one see 
such a friendly cormnunion of soldiers and sailors, 
each man and jack of them at their spickest and 
spannest, determined to outdo the other. 

The social life of Old Point Comfort is, gener- 
ally speaking, full of charm. The garrison of the 

fort is large and those of the army stationed there 

249 



WINTER JOURNEYS 

are allowed to remain long enough in this spot to 
form friendships and pleasant social ties. Then 
there are many visitors to the Chamberlin who come 
year after year to this place and probably will come 
year after year until they die. One knows the other 
person at Old Point, and it all tends to increase the 
charm of the atmosphere of the place. 

I have mentioned the Chamberlin. This hotel, 
with its sanguine, enterprising, individual manager, 
George F. Adams, is now almost as much an in- 
stitution of Old Point as Fort Monroe itself. There 
/ is, however, one great distinction; in case of war 
I Fort Monroe will remain (we hope) solid and en- 
during; the Hotel Chamberlin, on the other hand, 
is bound by the terms of its lease to the United 
, States government to be torn down upon request 
1 of the War Department in the case of hostilities. 
It thus lies with a most remote sw^ord hanging over 
its head, but this in no wise abates its gay demeanor. 
There are but two hotels on this government 
reservation of Fort Monroe. The other one of 
these two is the Sherwood Inn, a much smaller 
house than the Chamberlin, and one much more 
moderate in its rates. The Sherwood Inn, how- 
250 



OLD POINT COMFORT 

ever, is a thoroughly good establishment and is one 
much affected by the army set. Its accommoda- 
tions are first class in every particular and its table 
is good. 

The Chamberlin has been standing for twenty 
years or more and is the outgrowth of the con- 
structive ability of the late Samuel Chamberlin, a 
well-known lobbyist in Congress, and a member of 
that old circle of high-living men, Congressmen and 
others, who at one time made up the fame of Sara- 
toga Springs, New York. Chamberlin it seems 
became possessed of the idea that a second Sara- 
toga Springs could be built at Old Point. He not 
only became possessed of this idea but he secured 
capital and a grant of land from his friends in 
Congress. The Hotel Chamberlin was erected with 
every comfort that the period could devise, and for 
many years was a favorite meeting place of a cer- 
tain coterie who liked to play for high stakes, fish 
for gamey fish, shoot for fast-flying birds and do 
whatever they did furiously. It still has some remi- 
niscences of this boisterous atmosphere in the pri- 
vate card-rooms, in the cafe, and in other small 
survivals of the past. The head-waiter of the estab- 

251 



WINTER JOURNEYS 

lislunent, a towering black man, was formerly a 
head- waiter at Saratoga Springs. As the years 
have gone by the house has been kept modern and 
is still the abode of comfort, as anyone can testify 
who has stopped there. 

Of recent years the bath and medicinal features 
of the Chamberlin have become emphasized in im- 
portance, and the hydrotherapeutic department, 
as they call it, is now one of the most important 
departments of the hotel. Here baths of various 
descriptions, — Nauheim, Spitz, Vichy, and so on, — 
are administered under competent direction, and the 
course of the medical treatment is accompanied by 
careful supervision of the diet and details of life of 
the one who is taking the treatment. 
\ The variety and flavor of the sea food which dis- 
tinguishes the Chamberlin's table make it especially 
valuable from the dietitian's stand-point. Nowhere 
can one find better tasting oysters, shrimp, lobsters, 
fish of all descriptions, duck and wild fowl than here 
where the larder can be filled from the vast treasury 
of the Chesapeake, and its low marshy environs. 
During the summer season sea bathing may be 

indulged in by guests of the Chamberlin in front of 
252 



OLD POINT COMFORT 

the hotel, but during the winter one may take a dip 
in the spacious " Pompeiian Pool " in the confines 
of that establishment. The pool is overarched with 
glass, and on sunny days the sunshine comes through 
this glass making a most attractive interior. 

One of the pleasant features of Old Point Com- 
fort are the many interesting trips which one can 
take with Old Point as a base. Williamsburg, the 
historic, the sleeping city of Virginia, which has 
very recently received a rude shock by the invasion 
of a large powder company from the North and the 
building of a dynamite factory near at hand, is 
only fifty minutes away from Old Point by railway. 
Of the charm of Williamsburg one might write for 
page after page, and many pages there are that have 
been written on this very theme. 

Yorktown is also only a short distance away 
from Old Point. Here Cornwallis laid down his 
sword. Here McClellan gathered his army to- 
gether in the Civil War and drilled it and drilled it! 
Here he built breastworks near the ruins of those 
which Cornwallis had constructed and the ruins of 
the two together may now be seen by the visitor. 

Only a few minutes by trolley from Old Point 

253 



WINTER JOURNEYS 

is Hampton, where may be seen the Hampton Insti- 
tute, founded by General Samuel Chapman Arm- 
strong in 1868 for the practical education of negro 
youths. This place gives one food for reflection 
upon a prime problem in American hfe, as well as 
affording entertainment for the eye in the spacious 
grounds and pretty buildings. 

Just beyond Hampton lies Newport News, a 
city of importance, and an hour and a half from 
Old Point is Norfolk, whose large shipping interests 
are evidenced by her busy wharves. 

Until very lately the Chamberlin has not had 
adequate golf facilities, but at the time that this 
is being written a stretch of ground about ten min- 
utes from the hotel is being laid off with an eighteen- 
hole course. When completed this course should 
rank very highly both for interest of play and 
scenic surroundings, the whole panorama of Hamp- 
ton Roads being visible from the links. 

One feature of Old Point Comfort is its easy 
accessibility from Northern cities. It is but a day's 
pleasant journey from New York by water. One 
may go to Baltimore and then take one of the Bay 
steamers or he may make the trip all by rail. 
254 



INDEX 



Achorn, Dr. John Warren, 

201, 202, 203 
Adams, George F., 250 
Aiken, 149 
Alcazar Casino, 60 
Alcazar, The St. Augustine, 

59, 60, 63 
America's Riviera, 104 
Anastasia Island, 58 
Andrews Geyser, 215 
An Old Indian Town, 56 
Antoine's, 122 
Armstrong, General Samuel 

Chapman, 254 
Army, 249 
Asheville, 211 

Asheville, Country Club, 216 
Ashley, Charleston, 172, 181 
Ashley River, 161, 168 
Atlanta, 37, 127, 142 
Atlantic Coast Line, 87, 142, 

158 
Augusta, 137, 145, 154 
Augusta Country Club, 140, 

141 

Bahama Islands, 56 
Baptistery, St. Augustine, 59 
Barnwell County, 152 
Baron de Kalb, 162 
Baruch, Mr., 160 



Bathing, 25, 27, 77, 103 

Baths, 229, 239, 252 

Battery, The Charleston, 168 

Battery, The, 168 

Battery, Park Hotel, 213 

Battle of Camden, 162 

Battle of Dry Creek, 230 

Bay Biscayne, 33, 34, 36, 40 

Bay, St. Louis, 103, 107 

Beau voir, 107 

Berkshire, 196 

Bermuda, 172 

Bernard, 248 

Bicycle Chairs, 26 

Biloxi, 103, 106, 107 

Biltmore, 215 

Blue Bridge, 203, 204 

Blue Ridge Mountains, 224 

Boating, 25, 103 

Boat Trips, 81 

Bon Air, 142, 143, 144 

Bon Air Hotel, 139 

Bradley's and Palm Beach, 29 

Breakers, The, 16, 26, 27, 65 

Bridge, 79 

Buena Vista, 65 

Bull Street, 129 

Cafe la Louisanne, 122 
Caldwell, James, 229 
Caloosahatchie River, 88-91 
255 



INDEX 



Camden, 157 

Camden Hospital, 160 

Canal Street, 111, 120 

Canoeing, 207 

Cape Charles, 246-249 

Cape Henry, 246-249 

Card Playing, 144 

Carolina, 196 

Carolina Special, 142 

Carnival, 119, 120 

Carpenter, Nathan, 228 

Celery Growing, 98 

Chamberlin, The, 249 

Charleston, 142, 167 

Charlotte Street, St. Augus- 
tine, 57 

Chesapeake, 248 

Chesapeake and Ohio Rail- 
way, 229 

Cheraw, South CaroUna, 190 

Cincinnati, 142 

City Hall, 131 

CUfton Forge, 236 

Clyde Line, 172 

Coast Line, 97 

Cocoanut Grove, 65 

Colonial Hotel, Nassau, 66 

Cooper River, 168 

Corbett, Dr. John W., 160 

CornwaHis House, 161 

Country Club, Aiken, 150 

Court Inn, Camden, 158 

Creole, 121 



Croatan Indian Reservation, 

205 
Cypress woods, 206 

Dade County, 37, 40 

Daytona, 64, 80, 81, 89, 90 

Davis, Jefferson, 107 

Deering, James, 41 

Delafield, 241 

Deland, 90 

Despland, 81 

Devil's Back-bone, 152 

Dog River Fish and Hunt 
Club, 106 

Dorchester, 182 

Drayton Hall, 182 

Dwelling Houses of Charles- 
ton, 170 

Edgefield, 152 
EngHsh, 56, 123 
Enghsh in Florida, 5Q 
Enterprise Junction, 89 
Everglades, 88, 89, 91 

F. F. V. Trains, 221 
Fish, 205 
Fishermen, 106 
Fishing, 25, 34, 38, 342 
Flagler, Henry M., 28, 59, 62, 

66,98 
Flagler Memorial Chapel, 67 
Flagler Memorial Hospital, 

67 



256 



INDEX 



Florida East Coast Company, 

17, 35, 38, 59, 65, 66, 89, 97 
Florida East Coast Group, 75 
Florida Time-tables, 99 
Flag Rock, 241 
Flats, The, 206 
Fayetteville, North Carolina, 

190 
Fort Caroline, 55, 96 
Fort Lauderdale, 88, 91 
Fort Marion, St, Augustine, 

54 
Fort Morgan, 106 
Fort Myers, 87, 98 
Fort Pierce, 15, 65 
Fort Pulaski, 128 
Fort Sumter, 167, 168 
Fort Wool, 248 
Fortress Monroe, 247 
Fountain of Youth, 58 
Fox Hunts, 189, 240 
French, 96, 106, 123 
French in the New World, 55 
French Quarter, The, 111, 

113 

Galveston, 103 
Georgetown, 201, 207 
Getting into Florida, 87-92 
Golf, 13, 39, 73, 76, 81, 141, 
151, 159, 178, 187, 190, 
197, 213, 216, 226, 240, 254 
Golfing, 25 
Good Roads, 40 



Gorgues, Simon de, 55 
Great Pee Dee, 206 
Green, Rev. Dr. Ashbel, 236 
Greenbrier, 221, 231 
Greenewald, 113 
Gulfport, 103 

Haiglar, King, 163 
Hahfax River, 13, 74, 75 
Hampton, 254 
Hampton Institute, 254 
Hampton Roads, 245 
Hampton Terrace, 142 
Havana, 66 
Hermitage, 130 
Hibiscus, The, 16 
Highland Park Hotel, 149 
Hitchcock, Thomas, 153 
Hobkirk Inn, Camden, 158 
Holland House, New York, 

143 
Holly Inn, 196 
Homestead, 239 
Homestead Poultry Farm, 

241 
Horseback Riding, 216 
Hotel College Arms, 98 
Hotel de Soto, 129 
Hotel Ormond, 78 
Hot Springs, Virginia, 235- 

242 
Howard's Creek, 227 

Ingraham, J. E., 66 
Isehn, C. Oliver, 153 

257 



INDEX 



Jacksonville, 34, 87, 88, 89, 

95, 105 
Jacksonville Bridge, The, 63 
James, Commodore Curtis, 

41 
Jax, 95 

Jefferson, Thomas, 241 
Johnston, Mary, 242 

Key West, 65, 87, 90 
Key West Extension, 66 
King Street, St. Augustine, 59 
Kirkwood, Camden, 158, 159 
Kissimee, 99 

Krumbholz, Edmund, 159 
Kuser, Col. Anthony R., 153 
Lake Country, The, 90 
Lake George, 89 
Lakeland and Tampa, 99 
Lake Mohonk Mountain 

House, 143 
Lake Okeechobee, 88, 91 
Lake Pontchartrain, 108 
Lake Foxaway, 211 
Lake Woodruff, 89 
Lake Worth, 16, 29, 30 
Landscape Architect, 194 
Lee Monument, 114 
Lee Robert, E., 249 
Leon, Ponce de, 59 
Little Pee Dee River, 206 
Long-leaf Pine, 196, 202 
Long Squares and Long 

Years in Camden, 157, 164 

258 



Lumbee, The, 207 
Lumberton, 205 

Magazine Hill, 161 

Main Street, Summerville, 

179 
Marconi Wireless Station, 

38 
Mardi Gras, 118, 119 
Matheson, Wilham J., 41 
Mathieu, J. B., 163 
Maytown, 89 
McAuhffe, Wm., 59 
McClellan, 253 
Meeting Street, Charleston, 

169 
Memorial Church, St. Augus- 
tine, 64 
Menendez, Pedro, 55 
Methodists, 132 
Miami, 33-49, 65, 87 
Miami River, 34, 36 
Middleton Barony, 181, 182 
Midwinter Canoeing Club, 

203 
Millboro, 236, 241 
Mint Juleps, 230 
]Mid^^nter Canoeing Club of 

Pine Bluff, 201 
Mississippi River, 111, 116, 

117 
Mississippi City, 103, 106 
Mobile, 106 
Moore Haven, 92 



INDEX 



Mosquitoes, 25, 104, 114 
Motor Road, 105 
Motor Trips, 40, 81 
Mountaineers Club of Bos- 
ton, 217 
Moving-Picture, 67 
Moving-Picture Industry, 96 
Murray, Robert, 61 
Music, 62 
Musicians, 153 

Napoleon, 123, 248 
Napoleon Avenue, 112 
Nassau, 34, Q5 
Na^T, 249 

Na\'y Yard, Charleston, 172 
New England, 139, 196 
New Highland Park, 150 
Newport, Sir Christopher, 

246 
Ne\^'port News, 254 
New Orleans, 103, 107, 111 
Norfolk, 254 

Ocean Springs, 106 
Ocklawha, 91 
Okeechobee, Florida, 66 
Old Point Comfort, 245-254 
Olmsted, 194 
"Old White," 229, 230 
Opera House, 163 
Ormond, 139 

Ormond-Daytona Beach, 77, 
78 



Ormond and Roundabout 

and the Beach, 73-83 
Ormond Hotel, 64, 73, 75 
Ormond-On-The-Halifax, 75 
Old Spain, 54 

Palm Beach, 13-30 

Palm Beach Daily Program, 

25 
Palm Beach Gardens, 26 
Palm Beach Hotel, 16 
Palatka, 64, 89, 91 
Palmetto Farms, 153 
Palmetto Golf Club, 151 
Palm Trees, 77 
Partridge Inn, 142 
Pass Christian, 103, 107 
Pensacola, 103, 106 
Pine Bluff, 201, 203, 204 
Pine Forest Inn, Summer- 

ville, 176, 178 
Pinehurst, 73, 139, 187, 197, 

204 
Pine Tree Hill, 162 
Planter's Hotel, 170 
Plaza de la Constitucion, 57 
Polo, 151 

Ponce Building, The, 61 
Ponce de Leon, 55, 58 
Ponce de Leon in St. Augus- 
tine, 143 
Ponce de Leon Hotel, 63 
Pompeian Pool, 253 
President Monroe, 247 

259 



INDEX 



Quaint and Historic Forts of 

North America, 96 
Quincy, Rev. Samuel, 133 

Raikes, Robert, 133 
Riding, 240 
Rigollets, 108 
Rip-Raps, 249 
Roads, 152, 190, 216 
Rockefeller, John D., 82, 90 
Royal Palm, 36 
Royal Palm Casino, 39 
Royal Palm Express, 75 
Royal Palm Garden, 41 
Royal Palm Hotel, Miami, 

34, 35, 38, 65 
Royal Palm Trees, 36 
Royal Poinciana, 16, 65 
Royal Poinciana Hotel, 26 
Rowan, Dr. J. C, 160 

Salisbury, 214 

Sanford, 89, 98 

Sandhill Section, 193 

Seabreeze, 82 

Seaboard, 97 

Seeing Florida from a Time- 
table in Jax, 95-99 

Savannah, 127 

Savannah Yacht Club, 130 

Sand River, 152 

Sapphire Country,*211, 212 

Sarsfield Golf Club, 159 

Seaboard Air Line Railway, 
158 

260 



Shannon, Dr. W. M., 160 

Sha"«Tiees, 228 

Shepard, Dr. Charles U., 180 

Sherman, General 162, 181 

Sherwood Inn, 250 

Shooting Fixtures, 191 

Sir Walter Raleigh, 205 

Silver Springs, 91 

Skiing, 224 

Skating, 225 

Spanish Moss, 81 

Slang-chocking, 225 

Smith, Alice R. Huger, 171 

Smith, Captain John, 246 

Snow Shoeing, 225 

Southern, 158 

Southern Railway, 154 

Soil, 36-40 

Spaniards, 96 

Spanish, 106 

St. Augustine, 53, 69, 73 

St. Charles Avenue, 112, 114 

St. George Street, St. Augus- 
tine, 57 

St. Johns, 89 

St. John's River, 88, 96, 98 

St. Julien, James, 161 

St. Petersburg, 98 

St. Philips Church, Charles- 
ton, 170 

St. Michael's Church, Char- 
leston, 170 

Spruce Pine, 212, 213 

Southern Pines, 204 



INDEX 



Sport, 187, 190 
Sportsmen, 38 
Steamers, 88, 90 
Steamboats, 116 
Sullivan's Island, 172 
Summer ville, 175, 183 
Sweeney, J. J., 149 

Tarpon Fishing, 87, 98 
That Well-known Aiken, 149 

-154 
Tchoupitoulas Street, 112 
Tea Plantation, 180 
Telfair Academy of Fine Arts 

and Sciences, 131 
Tennis, 39, 140, 189, 216, 240 
The Circle of the Gulf, 103- 

108 
The de Saussure Family, 158 
The Grove Park Inn, 213 
The Isle of Palms, 172 
The Jungle, 28 
The Levee, 115 
The Langren, Asheville, 213 
The Louisana Purchase, 112 
The Manor, Asheville, 213 
The Motorboat Club, 130 
The Savannah Hotel, 129 
The Old in New Orlean s, 1 1 1- 

123 
The Old White Sulphur 

Springs Hotel, 228 
The One Piece Bathing Suit, 

39 



The White Sulphur Springs 

Company, 229 
Thunderbolt, 130 
Ticknor, Caleb, 158 
Tin Whistle Club, 191 
Titusville, 89 

Tradd Street, Charleston, 169 
Trap Shooting, 189 
Treadmill, The, 230 
Trudeau, Mr., 74 
Trussell, C. G., 143 
Tournament Events, 141, 190 
Tufts, James W., 193, 195 
Tufts, Leonard, 192 
Tybee, 128 

Umatilla House, 213 
Useppa, 87 

Vale of Montmorenci, 153 
Valentine Ball, 49 
Vanderbilt, George, 215 
Vanderbilt, W. K., 153 
Victoria Hotel, Nassau, 66 

Waggener, Captain, 177 
Warm Springs, 241 
Warm Springs Hotel, 241 
Warm Spring Mountain, 241 
Wateree River, 161 
Waterfront, 132 
Water Sports, 60 
Weir, Charles A., 177 
Wesley, John and Charles, 
132 

261 



INDEX 



West Palm Beach, 16, 65 

Whelan, Miss, 183 

Where Is What in Savannah, 

127, 133 
WTiitehall, 28 
White Sulphur Springs, 221, 

227, 232 
Whitney Drive, 152 
Whitney, Payne, 153 



Willcock's, 149 

Wilson, President Woodrow, 

107 
Williamsburg, 253 

Yachts, 34, 74, 108 
Yacht Club, New York, 41 
Yew Walk, 159 
Yorktown, 253 



